Detecting the Casimir Energy

检测卡西米尔能量

• 批准号: 1708283
• 负责人: David Bishop
• 金额: $ 37万
• 依托单位: Trustees of Boston University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-07-01 至 2021-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1708283&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Detecting; Casimir; Energy

Title: Detecting the Casimir Energy: A Quantum Mechanical Effect with Significant Real-World ImplicationsAbstract:Non-technical: In the classical world, a vacuum consists of nothing. No fields, forces or particles exist. However, the world we live in is not classical but controlled at the atomic scale by the rules of quantum mechanics (QM). Quantum mechanics has a number of rules and effects that defy our normal, real-world intuition. An example is the quantum mechanical vacuum. In such a vacuum, electrical and magnetic fields can and do exist albeit for short periods of time and over small length scales. One can think of the vacuum as the surface of a pond. The classical vacuum is a still pond with no waves or ripples. A boat floating on this pond never moves. However, the QM pond has waves that propagate for a short distance and then die out. These waves can move a boat on the surface. The Casimir effect is seen when one creates a set of conditions where these waves exert measurable forces on small, nanoscale objects (our boat). In classical physics, these forces should not exist but quantum mechanically they do exist and can be detected. These QM effects manifest themselves at the nanoscale and building devices and systems at this size requires that we understand them and learn how to work with them. Specifically, theoretical predictions suggest that these QM waves will change the transition temperature of a superconductor and we aim to observe this effect. Beyond interesting physics, such an effect may have implications for the existence of wormholes in space. While it is not fair to say we are looking for these, we will be doing experiments in a regime where theories by some of the world?s most eminent scientists say they may occur. We do plan to keep our eyes open.Technical: We propose research that will create MEMS devices for detecting the Casimir Energy. The Casimir effect is a result of the appearance of quantum fluctuations in the electromagnetic vacuum. A previous set of experiments done by a number of researchers have used MEMS parallel plate capacitors to detect the Casimir effect by measuring the small attractive force these fluctuations exert on the device. In this new set of experiments, we propose to directly detect the Casimir Energy in the vacuum modified by the presence of metallic parallel plates, a fundamentally new measurement of considerable interest to the theoretical physics community. Our approach uses a superconducting film as a sensor. The changes in the Casimir Energy within the superconductor volume is expected to shift the superconducting transition temperature because of an interaction between it and the superconducting condensation energy. The experiment we propose consists of taking a superconducting film, carefully measuring its transition temperature, bringing a conducting plate close to the film, creating a Casimir cavity, and then measuring the transition temperature again. The expected shifts will be small, ~1mK, comparable to the normal shifts one sees in cycling superconducting films to cryogenic temperatures and so using MEMS plates and doing this in situ is the only practical way to obtain accurate, reproducible data. We propose to use a MEMS device where the location of the plate can be changed while at low temperatures and look for this effect. Mechanically oscillating the MEMS plate position will modulate the effect and eliminate 1/f noise and long-term drifts from the measurement.

标题：检测卡西米尔能量：对现实世界具有重要意义的量子力学效应摘要：非技术性：在经典世界中，真空什么也没有组成。不存在场、力或粒子。然而，我们生活的世界不是经典的，而是由量子力学（QM）规则在原子尺度上控制的。量子力学有许多规则和效应，违背了我们正常的、现实世界的直觉。一个例子是量子力学真空。在这样的真空中，电场和磁场可以而且确实存在，尽管时间很短并且长度尺度很小。人们可以将真空想象成池塘的表面。经典的真空是一个静止的池塘，没有波浪或涟漪。漂浮在这个池塘上的船永远不会移动。然而，QM 池塘的波浪会传播短距离，然后消失。这些波浪可以移动水面上的船。当人们创造一系列条件，使这些波对小型纳米级物体（我们的船）施加可测量的力时，就会出现卡西米尔效应。在经典物理学中，这些力不应该存在，但从量子力学角度来说它们确实存在并且可以被检测到。这些量子管理效应在纳米尺度上表现出来，构建这种尺寸的设备和系统需要我们理解它们并学习如何使用它们。具体来说，理论预测表明这些 QM 波将改变超导体的转变温度，我们的目标是观察这种效应。除了有趣的物理学之外，这种效应可能会对太空中虫洞的存在产生影响。虽然说我们正在寻找这些东西是不公平的，但我们将在世界上一些最杰出的科学家的理论认为它们可能发生的体制中进行实验。我们确实计划保持警惕。技术：我们提出研究，将创建用于检测卡西米尔能量的 MEMS 设备。卡西米尔效应是电磁真空中量子涨落出现的结果。一些研究人员之前进行的一组实验使用 MEMS 平行板电容器，通过测量这些波动对设备施加的微小吸引力来检测卡西米尔效应。在这组新的实验中，我们建议直接检测因金属平行板的存在而改变的真空中的卡西米尔能量，这是理论物理界非常感兴趣的一种全新测量方法。我们的方法使用超导薄膜作为传感器。由于卡西米尔能量与超导凝聚能量之间的相互作用，超导体体积内卡西米尔能量的变化预计会改变超导转变温度。我们提出的实验包括采用超导薄膜，仔细测量其转变温度，将导电板靠近薄膜，创建卡西米尔空腔，然后再次测量转变温度。预期的偏移将很小，约为 1mK，与超导薄膜循环到低温时看到的正常偏移相当，因此使用 MEMS 板并在原位进行此操作是获得准确、可重复数据的唯一实用方法。我们建议使用 MEMS 设备，在低温下可以改变板的位置，并寻找这种效应。机械振荡 MEMS 板位置将调节效果并消除测量中的 1/f 噪声和长期漂移。

项目成果

Building a Casimir Metrology Platform with a commercial MEMS sensor

使用商用 MEMS 传感器构建卡西米尔计量平台

• DOI: 10.1038/s41378-019-0054-5
• 发表时间: 2019
• 期刊: 07 Nature
• 作者: Stange, A.;Imboden, M.;Javor, J.;Barrett, L.;Bishop, D.
• 通讯作者: Bishop, D.

Science and technology of the Casimir effect

卡西米尔效应的科学与技术

• DOI: 10.1063/pt.3.4656
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Physics Today
• 影响因子: 3.5
• 作者: Stange, Alexander;Campbell, David K.;Bishop, David J.
• 通讯作者: Bishop, David J.