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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 105 » Issue 9
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 090403 (2010) [4 pages]

Casimir Repulsion between Metallic Objects in Vacuum

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Michael Levin1, Alexander P. McCauley2, Alejandro W. Rodriguez2, M. T. Homer Reid2, and Steven G. Johnson3
1Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
2Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
3Department of Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA

Received 19 March 2010; published 26 August 2010

We give an example of a geometry in which two metallic objects in vacuum experience a repulsive Casimir force. The geometry consists of an elongated metal particle centered above a metal plate with a hole. We prove that this geometry has a repulsive regime using a symmetry argument and confirm it with numerical calculations for both perfect and realistic metals. The system does not support stable levitation, as the particle is unstable to displacements away from the symmetry axis.

© 2010 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.090403
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.090403
PACS:
03.70.+k, 03.65.-w, 12.20.-m
 
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