Noncontact rack and pinion powered by the lateral Casimir force

作者:Ashourvan Arash*; Miri MirFaez; Golestanian Ramin
来源:Physical Review Letters, 2007, 98(14): 140801.
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.140801

摘要

The lateral Casimir force is employed to propose a design for a potentially wear-proof rack and pinion with no contact, which can be miniaturized to the nanoscale. The robustness of the design is studied by exploring the relation between the pinion velocity and the rack velocity in the different domains of the parameter space. The effects of friction and added external load are also examined. It is shown that the device can hold up extremely high velocities, unlike what the general perception of the Casimir force as a weak interaction might suggest.

  • 出版日期2007-4-6