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The Casimir effect is a macroscopic quantum effect which arises from quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field. The Casimir effect manifests as an attractive force between two uncharged metallic plates. Practically, the manipulations of Casimir forces at micro-nano scales are of great interest in the application of MEMS and NEMS. This talk will outline the progress of our research on the Casimir force in recent years. Firstly, I will introduce the possibility of tuning Casimir force based on the phase change materials. A switching from quantum trapping of the gold nanoplate (``on” state) to its release (``off” state) is achieved based on the metal-to-insulator transition of VO2. The switching manipulations and its applications on tunable optical cavities are demonstrated in a MOS system. After that, I will introduce the concept of non-contact quantum friction, which is generated from the vacuum fluctuation and the Doppler effect. As a rotating nanosphere is set near an active graphene substrate, the sign of the friction torque exerted on the rotating nanosphere can be switched between positive and negative. Negative friction indicates that the object experiences friction along its relative sliding direction. The motion of objects is not hindered but instead accelerated by the lateral Casimir force.
Prof. Lixin Ge earned his Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics from Fudan University in 2014. He conducted postdoctoral research at Chongqing University from 2016 to 2017 and has been an Associate Professor at Xinyang Normal University since 2019. He made academic visits to King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia in 2015 and 2018. His research spans the Casimir effect, quantum vacuum friction, and graphene plasmonics.
Tencent meeting link: https://meeting.tencent.com/dm/SVkZxhsv0oJ9 Meeting ID: 498 976 803