Distance-Dependent Sign Reversal in the Casimir-Lifshitz Torque

Large Casimir Flipping Torque in Quantum Trap

Casimir torque between parallel plates, a macroscopic quantum electrodynamics effect, is known to be induced by dielectric anisotropy and related to the rotational degree of freedom. We here reveal a different type of Casimir torque generated on a Au plate suspended in a quantum trap without recourse to materials anisotropy. As the Au plate deflects from the equilibrium plane with a nonzero flipping angle, the regions departing from and approaching the Teflon-coated Au substrate are subjected to attractive and repulsive Casimir forces, respectively, resulting in a restoring torque about the axis of flipping. For a quantum trap with an equilibrium separation of ∼10 nm, the stiffness per unit area of the Casimir flipping torque can be an order of magnitude larger than those of previously reported dielectric anisotropy-induced rotational torques at the same separation. The large Casimir flipping torque provides the possibility of designing a mechanical oscillator completely dominated by quantum and thermal fluctuations.

Chiral-Anomaly-Driven Casimir-Lifshitz Torque between Weyl Semimetals

We propose a new mechanism to generate the Casimir-Lifshitz torque between Weyl semimetals arising from the chiral anomaly. For short distances ranging from a nanometer to a few tens of nanometers, chiral anomaly is manifested via a Casimir-Lifshitz torque ∼sin(θ) with θ being the twisting angle. As the distance between Weyl semimetals increases from a submicrometer to a few micrometers, chiral-anomaly-driven Casimir-Lifshitz torque between Weyl semimetals is remarkably large, which is comparable with that of conventional birefringent materials.

Giant Casimir Torque between Rotated Gratings and the θ=0 Anomaly

We study the Casimir torque between two metallic one-dimensional gratings rotated by an angle θ with respect to each other. We find that, for infinitely extended gratings, the Casimir energy is anomalously discontinuous at θ=0, due to a critical zero-order geometric transition between a 2D- and a 1D-periodic system. This transition is a peculiarity of the grating geometry and does not exist for intrinsically anisotropic materials. As a remarkable practical consequence, for finite-size gratings, the torque per area can reach extremely large values, increasing without bounds with the size of the system. We show that for finite gratings with only ten period repetitions, the maximum torque is already 60 times larger than the one predicted in the case of infinite gratings. These findings pave the way to the design of a contactless quantum vacuum torsional spring, with possible relevance to micro- and nanomechanical devices.

Orientational Dependence of the van der Waals Interactions for Finite-Sized Particles

Dispersion forces, especially van der Waals forces as interactions between neutral and polarizable particles act at small distances between two objects. Their theoretical origin lies in the electromagnetic interaction between induced dipole moments caused by the vacuum fluctuations of the ground-state electromagnetic field. The resulting theory well describes the experimental situation in the limit of the point dipole assumption. At smaller distances, where the finite size of the particles has to be taken into account, this description fails and has to be corrected by higher orders of the multipole expansion, such as quadrupole moments and so on. With respect to the complexity of the spatial properties of the particles this task requires a considerable effort. In order to describe the van der Waals interaction between such particles, we apply the established method of a spatially spread out polarizability distribution to approximate the higher orders of the multipole expansion. We thereby construct an effective theory for effects from anisotropy and finite size on the van der Waals potential.