Towards detecting traces of non-contact quantum friction in the corrections of the accumulated geometric phase

Abstract

The geometric phase can be used as a fruitful venue of investigation to infer features of the quantum systems. Its application can reach new theoretical frontiers and imply innovative and challenging experimental proposals. Herein, we take advantage of the geometric phase to sense the corrections induced while a neutral particle travels at constant velocity in front of an imperfect sheet in quantum vacuum. As it is already known, two bodies in relative motion at constant velocity experience a quantum contactless dissipative force, known as quantum friction. This force has eluded experimental detection so far due to its small magnitude and short range. However, we give details of an innovative experiment designed to track traces of the quantum friction by measuring the velocity dependence of corrections to the geometric phase. We notice that the environmentally induced corrections can be decomposed in different contributions: corrections induced by the presence of the dielectric sheet and the motion of the particle in quantum vacuum. As the geometric phase accumulates over time, its correction becomes relevant at a relative short timescale, while the system still preserves purity. The experimentally viable scheme presented would be the first one in tracking traces of quantum friction through the study of decoherence effects on a NV center in diamond.

Puzzling Low-Temperature Behavior of the Van Der Waals Friction Force between Metallic Plates in Relative Motion

“…New fascinating experimental possibilities in precision measurements of Casimir forces and quantum friction forces between plates and in close geometry are opening up with recent experiments [36,40,41]. In particular, in [41], the Casimir force between interpenetrated rectangular gratings was measured at T = 4 K.…”

Fifty Years of the Dynamical Casimir Effect

“…The latter paper triggered hot discussions [231][232][233][234][235]. More recent results can be found in [236][237][238][239][240][241][242][243][244][245][246][247][248][249][250]. In particular, it was shown in [246] that the friction force between two graphene sheets is nonzero only if the relative velocity is larger than the Fermi velocity of the charge carriers in graphene.…”

Detectable Signature of Quantum Friction on a Sliding Particle in Vacuum

“…The experiment is doable at nm, with (possible fluctuations in distance) induced decoherence effects being negligible compared to the quantum friction ones. [ 35 ]…”

“…Recently, in ref. [35] some of us have examined the effect of the vacuum, dressed by the presence of a more realistic Drude–Lorentz material on the geometric phase acquired by an atom moving at a constant velocity and made a proposal for an experimental setup.…”