The Economics of van der Waals Force Engineering

Pinto, Fabrizio

doi:10.1063/1.2845064

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Although today Casimir is almost exclusively cited in the fundamental research literature because of his seminal theoretical papers [19,20], one cannot fail to also be impressed by Casimir's own forceful advocacy to protect research funding as well as by his writings on the mutually supporting roles of academia and industry [74,75]. There is reason to believe that the present phase of dispersion force manipulation experimentation will spur vigorous technology transfers according to Casimir's 'spiral model' of industrial development [75] and eventually lead to significant applications in energy, medicine, optics and telecommunications [64,76].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Membrane actuation by Casimir force manipulation

Pinto¹

2008

J. Phys. A: Math. Theor.

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In our laboratory, we have been developing a practical demonstration of actuation by means of the Casimir force inspired by the capacitive detection approach originally described by Arnold, Hunklinger and Dransfeld (1972 Rev. Sci. Instrum. 43 584–7). In this paper, we first describe the mathematical challenges pertaining to the electrostatic calibration of our measuring device, which has been enhanced by our recently published results regarding the computation of electrostatic fields in axial systems, such as the long-standing classical circular capacitor problem. We also discuss our computational approach to the calculation of the Casimir force in our system, including our adoption of analytical descriptions of the dielectric functions of semiconductors extended to the case of axial geometries. We will illustrate how the original AHD apparatus has been drastically improved upon, for instance by means of modern nanopositioner technology, and we shall discuss our published experimental results on the dynamics of a vibrating membrane with a central disc, which have provided the first direct verification of the mechanical resonances of such a system. The emphasis of our effort is not exclusively directed to fundamental physics research but is focused on, and ultimately motivated by, our goal of identifying viable industrial applications leading to commercially marketable products based on Casimir force actuation. Therefore we conclude this paper by briefly discussing the contribution we believe these results will offer to some current technological problems, in particular in nanotechnology, including some thoughts on the possibility that dispersion forces may enable a new and rapidly expanding industry to develop in the near future.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Membrane actuation by Casimir force manipulation

Pinto¹

2008

J. Phys. A: Math. Theor.

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“…Since one of the characteristic asymptotic limits of the Lifshitz theory is, in fact, that of a rarefied gas of individual polarizable particles interacting with a boundary, 161,182,187,201,[226][227][228][229] it logically follows that such a formulation can, at least in principle, describe the evolution of the mechanical energy of a neutral beam interacting with a dielectric surface whose optical properties are being manipulated. 192,224,225 In contrast, calculations of the mutual interaction potential of telescoping multi-walled nanotube layers, as well as of atoms and molecules in different positions outside or inside the nanotube, are often carried out a F. Pinto within the full additivity framework either by discrete atomic potential summation in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations 131-136, 140, 207, 230-232 or by continuum approximations. 129,130,206,209,210,[233][234][235][236][237][238] A critical analysis of the respective numerical accuracy and physical validity of results thus obtained led to the revealing assessment that "the discrete atom-atom model is not necessarily preferable to a continuum model.…”

Section: Dispersion Force Control Experimentation and Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…117,222,223 The development of novel device capabilities being demonstrated by then author since "dispersion force engineering" was first introduced over a decade ago 221 has prompted the steady growth of a suite of methodologies to manipulate surface interactions in completely different regimes. 192,224,225 In standard Casimir force research, such as the AHD experiment, the Lifshitz theory applied in that arena provides, by design, an appropriate tool to capture phenomena that intrinsically arise as a consequence of many-body interactions without the need to make reference to the discrete nature of the interacting boundaries. Since one of the characteristic asymptotic limits of the Lifshitz theory is, in fact, that of a rarefied gas of individual polarizable particles interacting with a boundary, 161,182,187,201,[226][227][228][229] it logically follows that such a formulation can, at least in principle, describe the evolution of the mechanical energy of a neutral beam interacting with a dielectric surface whose optical properties are being manipulated.…”

Section: Dispersion Force Control Experimentation and Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanopropulsion from High-Energy Particle Beams via Dispersion Forces in Nanotubes

Pinto¹

2012

48th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference &Amp;amp; Exhibit

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Here we show for the first time that the van der Waals forces which act on the inner cores of multiwalled nanotubes can be altered to produce high-energy, high-luminosity neutral beams of nano-shuttles sliding inside the outer shells until they are ejected. This novel principle of nanotube core acceleration is based on a nanoscale implementation of dispersion force manipulation originally introduced and then developed both theoretically and experimentally by the author in micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS). In analogy with electromagnetic neutral particle acceleration, the van der Waals force, which has been experimentally observed to "retract" partially extruded cores inside the outer nanotube shells at extremely high speeds, is modulated in order to transfer a net amount of kinetic energy to the accelerated beam. Since dispersion forces are a dominant interaction at typical interlayer distances ≈ 0.34 nm, and sliding frictional forces are relatively small, the resulting final speed of the ejected shells can exceed vcore,fin 10 km/s. Technologies for the synthesis, fabrication, and uncapping of dense arrays of parallel, telescoping, multiwalled nanotubes have been already demonstrated to yield surface densities 10 10 cm −2 and individual nanotube lengths 10 cm have been demonstrated. Therefore, as the technology becomes fully developed, the resulting net thrust and specific impulse of a nanopropulsion device based on this approach can be shown to decisively exceed that of other existing lowthrust technologies. Additional advantages include the neutrality of ejecta, the potential for a tight integration of the propulsive system with on-chip digital management, and system versatility to accommodate drastically different mission profiles.

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“…The above Introduction proposes several motivations to formulate a critical re-analysis of the AHD measurement effort, and to further expand on it not only from the fundamental physics standpoint, but also because of its capability to yield a proof-of-concept for products potentially ready to enter the marketplace (Pinto, 2008). These motivating factors are briefly analyzed in the present section.…”

Section: Motivations Of the Present Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Membrane Nano-Actuation by Light-Driven Manipulation of van der Waals Forces: A Progress Report

Pinto¹

2008

AIP Conference Proceedings

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An ongoing proof-of-concept demonstration of the resonant actuation of a thin membrane by periodic van der Waals forces between an illuminated semiconducting layer and a vibrating sensing element is reported. In the first phase of our effort, we have studied the mechanical response of a microphone membrane modified by a central rigid silica disk under the action of an electrostatic actuator inside a vacuum chamber. Unlike previous, and quite approximate, efforts by others, we obtained the first successful verification of the frequency response of a modified vibrating membrane to the excitation by an especially designed electrostatic actuator for the first three cylindrically symmetrical resonant modes of the system. In order to properly calibrate the capacitive device for the detection of membrane actuation by the van der Waals force, we proceeded by obtaining accurate calculations of the electrostatic force between the actuator and the modified microphone membrane. This demanding numerical effort, conducted in cylindrical coordinates by means of a simultaneous overrelaxation (SOR) algorithm coded in Compaq Fortran 90, has already exposed some undetected errors in the existing literature. We have also quantitatively proven that capacitance estimates from standard analytical equations appreciably depart from those obtained by accurate finite-difference models. This finding is extremely important since a detailed understanding of electrostatic calibration is at the basis of most contemporary experiments on van der Waals forces. We conclude by illustrating the next steps of our proof-of-concept activities and we comment on the overall technological relevance of our demonstration.

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The Economics of van der Waals Force Engineering

Cited by 9 publications

References 53 publications

Membrane actuation by Casimir force manipulation

Membrane actuation by Casimir force manipulation

Nanopropulsion from High-Energy Particle Beams via Dispersion Forces in Nanotubes

Membrane Nano-Actuation by Light-Driven Manipulation of van der Waals Forces: A Progress Report

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