2008/07/31 by Alejandro W. Rodríguez, Alejandro W. Rodriguez, J. N. Munday +6 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.101.190404
Published in Physical Review Letters. Vol. 101, page, 190404 (2008)
openalex publication_date 2008/11/07 · arxiv created 2008/11/08 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
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 degrees transition as the separation length scale is varied, which is explained as a consequence of material dispersion.