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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 101 » Issue 19
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 190404 (2008) [4 pages]

Stable Suspension and Dispersion-Induced Transitions from Repulsive Casimir Forces Between Fluid-Separated Eccentric Cylinders

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Alejandro W. Rodriguez1, J. N. Munday2, J. D. Joannopoulos1, Federico Capasso3, Diego A. R. Dalvit4, and Steven G. Johnson5
1Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
2Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
3School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
4Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
5Department of Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA

Received 25 July 2008; published 7 November 2008

We numerically demonstrate a stable mechanical suspension of a silica cylinder within a metallic cylinder separated by ethanol, via a repulsive Casimir force between the silica and the metal. We investigate cylinders with both circular and square cross sections, and show that the latter exhibit a stable orientation as well as a stable position, via a method to compute Casimir torques for finite objects. Furthermore, the stable orientation of the square cylinder undergoes a 45° transition as the separation length scale is varied, which is explained as a consequence of material dispersion.

© 2008 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.190404
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.190404
PACS:
12.20.−m, 03.70.+k, 42.50.Lc, 42.50.Nn
 
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