We study a nanoscale system composed of one corrugated cylinder (pinion) placed between two corrugated plates (racks). The pinion and racks have no mechanical contact, but are coupled via the lateral Casimir force-one of the most spectacular consequences of quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field. The noncontact design of the device could help with the noteworthy wear problem in nanoscale mechanical systems. We consider the case where both racks undergo harmonic lateral motion. We assume that the amplitude, frequency, and phase of one of the racks are known. We show that probing the pinion motion, one can determine the vibration characteristics of the other rack.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.82.016117 | DOI Listing |
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Noncontact rack-pinion-rack device as a differential vibration sensor.
Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys
July 2010
Department of Physics, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
We study a nanoscale system composed of one corrugated cylinder (pinion) placed between two corrugated plates (racks). The pinion and racks have no mechanical contact, but are coupled via the lateral Casimir force-one of the most spectacular consequences of quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field. The noncontact design of the device could help with the noteworthy wear problem in nanoscale mechanical systems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNonlinear dynamics of a rack-pinion-rack device powered by the Casimir force.
Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys
January 2010
Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS), Zanjan, Iran.
Using the lateral Casimir force-a manifestation of the quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field between objects with corrugated surfaces-as the main force transduction mechanism, a nanomechanical device with rich dynamical behaviors is proposed. The device is made of two parallel racks that are moving in the same direction and a pinion in the middle that couples with both racks via the noncontact lateral Casimir force. The built-in frustration in the device causes it to be very sensitive and react dramatically to minute changes in the geometrical parameters and initial conditions of the system.
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