Electro-mechanical Casimir effect

Journal article (2018)

Authors

Mikel Sanz University of the Basque Country
W Wieczorek Chalmers University of Technology
S. Groeblacher Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft, QN/Groeblacher Lab - AS
Enrique Solano University of the Basque Country, Basque Foundation for Science, Shanghai University
Research Group
QN/Groeblacher Lab (AS) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2018 Mikel Sanz, W Wieczorek, S. Groeblacher, Enrique Solano
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22331/q-2018-09-03-91
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Published Date

2018

Language

English

Reuse Rights

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Faculty

Applied Sciences

Department

QN/Quantum Nanoscience

Research Group

QN/Groeblacher Lab

Abstract

The dynamical Casimir effect is an intriguing phenomenon in which photons are generated from vacuum due to a non-adiabatic change in some boundary conditions. In particular, it connects the motion of an accelerated mechanical mirror to the generation of photons. While pioneering experiments demonstrating this effect exist, a conclusive measurement involving a mechanical generation is still missing. We show that a hybrid system consisting of a piezoelectric mechanical resonator coupled to a superconducting cavity may allow to electro-mechanically generate measurable photons from vacuum, intrinsically associated to the dynamical Casimir effect. Such an experiment may be achieved with current technology, based on film bulk acoustic resonators directly coupled to a superconducting cavity. Our results predict a measurable photon generation rate, which can be further increased through additional improvements such as using superconducting metamaterials.

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