Liu XF, Li Y, Jing H. Casimir switch: steering optical transparency with vacuum forces.
Sci Rep 2016;
6:27102. [PMID:
27256630 PMCID:
PMC4891816 DOI:
10.1038/srep27102]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2016] [Accepted: 05/13/2016] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The Casimir force, originating from vacuum zero-point energy, is one of the most intriguing purely quantum effects. It has attracted renewed interests in current field of nanomechanics, due to the rapid size decrease of on-chip devices. Here we study the optomechanically-induced transparency (OMIT) with a tunable Casimir force. We find that the optical output rate can be significantly altered by the vacuum force, even terminated and then restored, indicating a highly-controlled optical switch. Our result addresses the possibility of designing exotic optical nano-devices by harnessing the power of vacuum.
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