138 research outputs found
Tests of the Gravitational Inverse-Square Law
We review recent experimental tests of the gravitational inverse-square law
and the wide variety of theoretical considerations that suggest the law may
break down in experimentally accessible regions.Comment: 81 pages, 10 figures, submitted by permission of the Annual Review of
Nuclear and Particle Science. Final version of this material is scheduled to
appear in the Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science Vol. 53, to be
published in December 2003 by Annual Reviews, http://AnnualReviews.or
Casimir forces on a silicon micromechanical chip
Quantum fluctuations give rise to van der Waals and Casimir forces that
dominate the interaction between electrically neutral objects at sub-micron
separations. Under the trend of miniaturization, such quantum electrodynamical
effects are expected to play an important role in micro- and nano-mechanical
devices. Nevertheless, utilization of Casimir forces on the chip level remains
a major challenge because all experiments so far require an external object to
be manually positioned close to the mechanical element. Here, by integrating a
force-sensing micromechanical beam and an electrostatic actuator on a single
chip, we demonstrate the Casimir effect between two micromachined silicon
components on the same substrate. A high degree of parallelism between the two
near-planar interacting surfaces can be achieved because they are defined in a
single lithographic step. Apart from providing a compact platform for Casimir
force measurements, this scheme also opens the possibility of tailoring the
Casimir force using lithographically defined components of non-conventional
shapes
Static non-reciprocity in mechanical metamaterials
Reciprocity is a fundamental principle governing various physical systems,
which ensures that the transfer function between any two points in space is
identical, regardless of geometrical or material asymmetries. Breaking this
transmission symmetry offers enhanced control over signal transport, isolation
and source protection. So far, devices that break reciprocity have been mostly
considered in dynamic systems, for electromagnetic, acoustic and mechanical
wave propagation associated with spatio-temporal variations. Here we show that
it is possible to strongly break reciprocity in static systems, realizing
mechanical metamaterials that, by combining large nonlinearities with suitable
geometrical asymmetries, and possibly topological features, exhibit vastly
different output displacements under excitation from different sides, as well
as one-way displacement amplification. In addition to extending non-reciprocity
and isolation to statics, our work sheds new light on the understanding of
energy propagation in non-linear materials with asymmetric crystalline
structures and topological properties, opening avenues for energy absorption,
conversion and harvesting, soft robotics, prosthetics and optomechanics.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figures, Supplementary information (11 pages and 5
figures
Nanoscale atomic waveguides with suspended carbon nanotubes
We propose an experimentally viable setup for the realization of
one-dimensional ultracold atom gases in a nanoscale magnetic waveguide formed
by single doubly-clamped suspended carbon nanotubes. We show that all common
decoherence and atom loss mechanisms are small guaranteeing a stable operation
of the trap. Since the extremely large current densities in carbon nanotubes
are spatially homogeneous, our proposed architecture allows to overcome the
problem of fragmentation of the atom cloud. Adding a second nanowire allows to
create a double-well potential with a moderate tunneling barrier which is
desired for tunneling and interference experiments with the advantage of
tunneling distances being in the nanometer regime.Comment: Replaced with the published version, 7 pages, 3 figure
Observation of the Dynamical Casimir Effect in a Superconducting Circuit
One of the most surprising predictions of modern quantum theory is that the
vacuum of space is not empty. In fact, quantum theory predicts that it teems
with virtual particles flitting in and out of existence. While initially a
curiosity, it was quickly realized that these vacuum fluctuations had
measurable consequences, for instance producing the Lamb shift of atomic
spectra and modifying the magnetic moment for the electron. This type of
renormalization due to vacuum fluctuations is now central to our understanding
of nature. However, these effects provide indirect evidence for the existence
of vacuum fluctuations. From early on, it was discussed if it might instead be
possible to more directly observe the virtual particles that compose the
quantum vacuum. 40 years ago, Moore suggested that a mirror undergoing
relativistic motion could convert virtual photons into directly observable real
photons. This effect was later named the dynamical Casimir effect (DCE). Using
a superconducting circuit, we have observed the DCE for the first time. The
circuit consists of a coplanar transmission line with an electrical length that
can be changed at a few percent of the speed of light. The length is changed by
modulating the inductance of a superconducting quantum interference device
(SQUID) at high frequencies (~11 GHz). In addition to observing the creation of
real photons, we observe two-mode squeezing of the emitted radiation, which is
a signature of the quantum character of the generation process.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure
Strong Casimir force reduction through metallic surface nanostructuring
The Casimir force between bodies in vacuum can be understood as arising from
their interaction with an infinite number of fluctuating electromagnetic
quantum vacuum modes, resulting in a complex dependence on the shape and
material of the interacting objects. Becoming dominant at small separations,
the force plays a significant role in nanomechanics and object manipulation at
the nanoscale, leading to a considerable interest in identifying structures
where the Casimir interaction behaves significantly different from the
well-known attractive force between parallel plates. Here we experimentally
demonstrate that by nanostructuring one of the interacting metal surfaces at
scales below the plasma wavelength, an unexpected regime in the Casimir force
can be observed. Replacing a flat surface with a deep metallic lamellar grating
with sub-100 nm features strongly suppresses the Casimir force and for large
inter-surfaces separations reduces it beyond what would be expected by any
existing theoretical prediction.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure
Observation of the thermal Casimir force
Quantum theory predicts the existence of the Casimir force between
macroscopic bodies, due to the zero-point energy of electromagnetic field modes
around them. This quantum fluctuation-induced force has been experimentally
observed for metallic and semiconducting bodies, although the measurements to
date have been unable to clearly settle the question of the correct
low-frequency form of the dielectric constant dispersion (the Drude model or
the plasma model) to be used for calculating the Casimir forces. At finite
temperature a thermal Casimir force, due to thermal, rather than quantum,
fluctuations of the electromagnetic field, has been theoretically predicted
long ago. Here we report the experimental observation of the thermal Casimir
force between two gold plates. We measured the attractive force between a flat
and a spherical plate for separations between 0.7 m and 7 m. An
electrostatic force caused by potential patches on the plates' surfaces is
included in the analysis. The experimental results are in excellent agreement
(reduced of 1.04) with the Casimir force calculated using the Drude
model, including the T=300 K thermal force, which dominates over the quantum
fluctuation-induced force at separations greater than 3 m. The plasma
model result is excluded in the measured separation range.Comment: 6 page
Casimir effect of electromagnetic field in Randall-Sundrum spacetime
We study the finite temperature Casimir effect on a pair of parallel
perfectly conducting plates in Randall-Sundrum model without using scalar field
analogy. Two different ways of interpreting perfectly conducting conditions are
discussed. The conventional way that uses perfectly conducting condition
induced from 5D leads to three discrete mode corrections. This is very
different from the result obtained from imposing 4D perfectly conducting
conditions on the 4D massless and massive vector fields obtained by decomposing
the 5D electromagnetic field. The latter only contains two discrete mode
corrections, but it has a continuum mode correction that depends on the
thicknesses of the plates. It is shown that under both boundary conditions, the
corrections to the Casimir force make the Casimir force more attractive. The
correction under 4D perfectly conducting condition is always smaller than the
correction under the 5D induced perfectly conducting condition. These
statements are true at any temperature.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figure
Strong Interactions of Single Atoms and Photons near a Dielectric Boundary
Modern research in optical physics has achieved quantum control of strong
interactions between a single atom and one photon within the setting of cavity
quantum electrodynamics (cQED). However, to move beyond current
proof-of-principle experiments involving one or two conventional optical
cavities to more complex scalable systems that employ N >> 1 microscopic
resonators requires the localization of individual atoms on distance scales <
100 nm from a resonator's surface. In this regime an atom can be strongly
coupled to a single intracavity photon while at the same time experiencing
significant radiative interactions with the dielectric boundaries of the
resonator. Here, we report an initial step into this new regime of cQED by way
of real-time detection and high-bandwidth feedback to select and monitor single
Cesium atoms localized ~100 nm from the surface of a micro-toroidal optical
resonator. We employ strong radiative interactions of atom and cavity field to
probe atomic motion through the evanescent field of the resonator. Direct
temporal and spectral measurements reveal both the significant role of
Casimir-Polder attraction and the manifestly quantum nature of the atom-cavity
dynamics. Our work sets the stage for trapping atoms near micro- and
nano-scopic optical resonators for applications in quantum information science,
including the creation of scalable quantum networks composed of many
atom-cavity systems that coherently interact via coherent exchanges of single
photons.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, Supplemental Information included as ancillary
fil
Tunable bipolar optical interactions between guided lightwaves
The optical binding forces between guided lightwaves in dielectric waveguides
can be either repulsive or attractive. So far only attractive force has been
observed. Here we experimentally demonstrate a bipolar optical force between
coupled nanomechanical waveguides. Both attractive and repulsive optical forces
are obtained. The sign of the force can be switched reversibly by tuning the
relative phase of the interacting lightwaves. This tunable, bipolar interaction
forms the foundation for the operation of a new class of light force devices
and circuits.Comment: 4 figure
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