Origin of the Repulsive Casimir Force in Giant Polarization-Interconversion Materials

Zhou Li and Chinmay Khandekar
Phys. Rev. Applied 16, 044047 – Published 25 October 2021

Abstract

Achieving strong repulsive Casimir forces through engineered coatings can pave the way for micro- and nanoelectromechanical applications where adhesive forces currently cause reliability issues. Here, we exploit Lifshitz theory to identify the requirements for repulsive Casimir forces in gyrotropic media for two limiting cases (ultrastrong gyroelectric and nongyroelectric). We show that the origin of repulsive force in media with strong gyrotropy such as Weyl semimetals arises from the giant interconversion of polarization of vacuum fluctuations.

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  • Received 6 February 2021
  • Revised 12 September 2021
  • Accepted 30 September 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.16.044047

© 2021 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Zhou Li1,2,3,* and Chinmay Khandekar1

  • 1Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47906, USA
  • 2GBA Branch of Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510535, China
  • 3University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China

  • *zli5@ualberta.ca

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Issue

Vol. 16, Iss. 4 — October 2021

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