APL Nameplate
  • Volume/Page
  • Keyword
  • DOI
  • Citation
  • Advanced
   
 
 
 

Flickr Twitter iResearch App Facebook

Applied Physics Letters / Volume 100 / Issue 25 / NANOSCALE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 253104 (2012); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4729822 (4 pages)

Ultrathin metallic coatings can induce quantum levitation between nanosurfaces

Mathias Boström1,2, Barry W. Ninham2, Iver Brevik1, Clas Persson3,4, Drew F. Parsons2, and Bo E. Sernelius5

1Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway
2Department of Applied Mathematics, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
3Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
4Department of Physics, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1048 Blindern, NO-0316 Oslo, Norway
5Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Division of Theory and Modeling, Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden

View MapView Map

(Received 22 May 2012; accepted 4 June 2012; published online 19 June 2012)

There is an attractive Casimir-Lifshitz force between two silica surfaces in a liquid (bromobenze or toluene). We demonstrate that adding an ultrathin (5–50 Å) metallic nanocoating to one of the surfaces results in repulsive Casimir-Lifshitz forces above a critical separation. The onset of such quantum levitation comes at decreasing separations as the film thickness decreases. Remarkably, the effect of retardation can turn attraction into repulsion. From that we explain how an ultrathin metallic coating may prevent nanoelectromechanical systems from crashing together.

© 2012 American Institute of Physics

RELATED DATABASES

To view database links for this article, you need to log in.

KEYWORDS, PACS, and IPC

Keywords

Casimir effect, gold, metallic thin films, nanostructured materials, organic compounds, silicon compounds, van der Waals forces

PACS

International Patent Classification (IPC)

ARTICLE DATA

Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4729822

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

0003-6951 (print)  
1077-3118 (online)

Publisher

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef American Institute of Physics

For access to fully linked references, you need to log in.

    References

    F. M. Serry, D. Walliser, and G. J. Maclay, J. Appl. Phys. 84, 2501 (1998)JAPIAU000084000005002501000001.

    R. S. Decca, D. Lópes, E. Fischbach, and D. E. Krause, Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 050402 (2003).

    C. H. Anderson and E. S. Sabisky, Phys. Rev. Lett. 24, 1049 (1970).


For access to citing articles, you need to log in.


Figures (5)

Access to article objects (figures, tables, multimedia) requires a subscription; log in to view available files.
(Access to supplementary files, where available, is free for this journal.)



Close

Google Calendar

ADVERTISEMENT

Your Recent History Recent History Help

Recently Viewed

  1. Ultrathin metallic coatings can induce quantum levitation between nanosurfaces
Go to AIP Home   © AIP Publishing LLC
close