2013/12/24 by Andrew A. Allocca, Justin H. Wilson, Victor Galitski
Chemistry · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Aerospace engineering #Casimir effect #Chemistry #Classical mechanics #Condensed matter physics #Engineering #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #Orbit (dynamics) #Physics #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Spin (aerodynamics) #Theoretical physics #Thermodynamics #Transition (genetics) #cond-mat.mes-hall #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.90.075420
published as Phys. Rev. B 90, 075420 (2014) · 5 pages + 6 page supplement; 5 figures
arxiv created 2013/12/24 · openalex publication_date 2014/08/21 · arxiv updated 2014/08/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The Casimir effect is a fascinating phenomenon where quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field give rise to measurable forces between macroscopic systems. Here we propose that the Casimir effect can be used as a tool to detect changes in electronic structures. In particular, we focus here on the Lifshitz transition---a topological change in the Fermi surface---in a planar spin-orbit-coupled semiconductor in a magnetic field and calculate the Casimir force between the semiconductor and another probe system across the magnetic-field-tuned transition. We show that the Casimir force experiences a sharp kink at the topological transition and provide numerical estimates indicating that the effect is well within experimental reach. The simplest experimental realization of the proposed effect would involve a metal-coated sphere suspended from a microcantilever above a thin layer of InSb (or another semiconductor with a large g factor).