Casimir effect across a phase transition

Avatar

Authors

Andrew Allocca (Cambridge, UK) et al

Abstract

We propose the Casimir effect as a general method to observe Lifshitz transitions in electron systems. The concept is demonstrated with a planar spin-orbit coupled semiconductor in a magnetic field. We calculate the Casimir force between two such semiconductors and between the semiconductor and a metal as a function of the Zeeman splitting in the semiconductor. The Zeeman field causes a Fermi pocket in the semiconductor to form or collapse by tuning the system through a topological Lifshitz transition. We find that the Casimir force experiences a kink at the transition point and noticeably different behaviors on either side of the transition. The simplest experimental realization of the proposed effect would involve a metal-coated sphere suspended from a micro-cantilever above a thin layer of InSb (or another semiconductor with large g-factor). Numerical estimates are provided and indicate that the effect is well within experimental reach.

0 comments

Recommended SciCasts
SoK: Yield Aggregators in DeFi
Introduction to ScienceCast
Liquidations: DeFi on a Knife-edge
Equatorial magnetoplasma waves
Cosmic Birefringence in 2022
Spin-plasma waves
Quantum chemistry on quantum annealers