The Casimir effect between micromechanical components on a silicon chip

H. B. Chan, J. Zou, Z. Marcet, A. W. Rodriguez, M. T.H. Reid, A. P. McCauley, I. I.I. Kravchenko, T. Lu, Y. Bao, S. G. Johnson

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Casimir force originates from quantum fluctuations. While this force is too weak to have any measurable effects between objects at separations larger than 10 μm it dominates the interaction between electrically neutral surfaces at the nanoscale. By fabricating a doubly clamped microbeam for sensing the force and a comb actuator to control the distance, we demonstrate that the Casimir force can become the dominant interaction between components within the same silicon chip.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2014 International Conference on Optical MEMS and Nanophotonics, OMN 2014 - Proceedings
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
Pages61-62
Number of pages2
ISBN (Electronic)9780992841423
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 14 2014
Event2014 International Conference on Optical MEMS and Nanophotonics, OMN 2014 - Glasgow, United Kingdom
Duration: Aug 17 2014Aug 21 2014

Publication series

NameInternational Conference on Optical MEMS and Nanophotonics
ISSN (Print)2160-5033
ISSN (Electronic)2160-5041

Conference

Conference2014 International Conference on Optical MEMS and Nanophotonics, OMN 2014
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityGlasgow
Period08/17/1408/21/14

Keywords

  • Casimir forces
  • force sensors
  • quantum fluctuations
  • surface interactions

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