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• Physics 16, s99
A friction-like quantum power may speed up the movement of a rotating nanometer-diameter sphere when the sphere sits subsequent to a graphene-coated floor.
L. Ge/ Xinyang Regular College
A classical object experiences friction solely when it touches one other object. A quantum one can expertise a associated power with out contacting something. That power, often known as quantum friction, arises from interactions of the thing with vacuum fluctuations, electromagnetic waves that pop out and in of existence. Now Lixin Ge of Xinyang Regular College in China proposes a brand new vacuum-fluctuation-induced power, damaging vacuum friction, that acts in the identical path as the thing strikes, inflicting it to maneuver quicker [1]. Ge says that damaging vacuum friction may provide a brand new strategy to quickly rotate nanoparticles, a way doubtlessly helpful in precision measurements.
Ge considers a rotating nanometer-diameter sphere positioned close to a graphene-coated substrate. Vacuum fluctuations work together with the rotating sphere and subsequently emit terahertz electromagnetic radiation. This radiation causes quasiparticles to type and move on the substrate’s floor. These quasiparticles improve the magnitude of the electromagnetic interactions between the sphere and substrate, mediated through the vacuum fluctuations.
On most substrates, these quasiparticles will progressively decelerate. However Ge predicts that on a graphene-coated system, the terahertz induced quasiparticles will speed up as they propagate if the floor is illuminated with gentle. This acceleration induces the substrate to recoil in the wrong way to the quasiparticle move. Based on Newton’s third regulation, the nanosphere should expertise a power equal in magnitude however reverse in path to the power the substrate experiences. This power pushes in the identical path because the sphere’s rotation—it’s this power that that Ge calls damaging vacuum friction.
–Sophia Chen
Sophia Chen is a contract science author primarily based in Columbus, Ohio.
References
- L. Ge, “Damaging vacuum friction in terahertz achieve techniques,” Phys. Rev. B 108, 045406 (2023).
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