Detecting the Casimir Energy

题目：探测卡西米尔能量：具有重要现实意义的量子力学效应摘要：非技术：在经典世界中，真空由虚无组成。没有场、力或粒子存在。然而，我们生活的世界不是经典的，而是由量子力学（QM）规则在原子尺度上控制的。量子力学有许多规则和效应，它们违背了我们正常的、现实世界的直觉。量子力学真空就是一个例子。在这样的真空中，电场和磁场可以而且确实存在，尽管时间很短，长度也很小。我们可以把真空想象成一个池塘的表面。经典的真空是一个静止的池塘，没有波浪或涟漪。在这个池塘里漂浮的船永远不会移动。然而，QM池塘的波浪传播距离很短，然后就消失了。这些波浪可以使船在水面上移动。当人们创造一组条件，让这些波浪对微小的纳米级物体（我们的船）施加可测量的力时，就会看到卡西米尔效应。在经典物理学中，这些力不应该存在，但从量子力学的角度来看，它们确实存在，并且可以被探测到。这些QM效应在纳米尺度上表现出来，构建这种尺寸的设备和系统需要我们理解它们，并学习如何使用它们。具体来说，理论预测表明，这些QM波将改变超导体的转变温度，我们的目标是观察这种效应。除了有趣的物理学之外，这种效应可能还暗示了太空中虫洞的存在。虽然说我们正在寻找这些是不公平的，但我们将在一个由世界上一些人提出的理论的制度下进行实验。美国最著名的科学家说它们可能会发生。我们的确打算睁大眼睛。技术：我们建议研究将创建用于检测卡西米尔能量的MEMS设备。卡西米尔效应是电磁真空中出现量子涨落的结果。在之前的一系列实验中，许多研究人员使用MEMS平行板电容器，通过测量这些波动对器件施加的小吸引力来检测卡西米尔效应。在这组新的实验中，我们建议直接探测由金属平行板的存在改变的真空中的卡西米尔能量，这是理论物理学界相当感兴趣的一种全新的测量方法。我们的方法使用超导薄膜作为传感器。超导体体内卡西米尔能量的变化由于与超导冷凝能的相互作用而使超导转变温度发生位移。我们提出的实验包括：取超导薄膜，仔细测量其转变温度，将导电板靠近薄膜，制造卡西米尔空腔，然后再次测量转变温度。预期的位移很小，约1mK，与将超导薄膜循环到低温时看到的正常位移相当，因此使用MEMS板并在原位进行此操作是获得准确，可重复数据的唯一实用方法。我们建议使用MEMS器件，其中在低温下可以改变板的位置并寻找这种效果。机械振荡MEMS板的位置将调制的影响，消除1/f噪声和长期漂移的测量。

Title: Detecting the Casimir Energy: A Quantum Mechanical Effect with Significant Real-World ImplicationsAbstract:Non-technical: In the classical world, a vacuum consists of nothing. No fields, forces or particles exist. However, the world we live in is not classical but controlled at the atomic scale by the rules of quantum mechanics (QM). Quantum mechanics has a number of rules and effects that defy our normal, real-world intuition. An example is the quantum mechanical vacuum. In such a vacuum, electrical and magnetic fields can and do exist albeit for short periods of time and over small length scales. One can think of the vacuum as the surface of a pond. The classical vacuum is a still pond with no waves or ripples. A boat floating on this pond never moves. However, the QM pond has waves that propagate for a short distance and then die out. These waves can move a boat on the surface. The Casimir effect is seen when one creates a set of conditions where these waves exert measurable forces on small, nanoscale objects (our boat). In classical physics, these forces should not exist but quantum mechanically they do exist and can be detected. These QM effects manifest themselves at the nanoscale and building devices and systems at this size requires that we understand them and learn how to work with them. Specifically, theoretical predictions suggest that these QM waves will change the transition temperature of a superconductor and we aim to observe this effect. Beyond interesting physics, such an effect may have implications for the existence of wormholes in space. While it is not fair to say we are looking for these, we will be doing experiments in a regime where theories by some of the world?s most eminent scientists say they may occur. We do plan to keep our eyes open.Technical: We propose research that will create MEMS devices for detecting the Casimir Energy. The Casimir effect is a result of the appearance of quantum fluctuations in the electromagnetic vacuum. A previous set of experiments done by a number of researchers have used MEMS parallel plate capacitors to detect the Casimir effect by measuring the small attractive force these fluctuations exert on the device. In this new set of experiments, we propose to directly detect the Casimir Energy in the vacuum modified by the presence of metallic parallel plates, a fundamentally new measurement of considerable interest to the theoretical physics community. Our approach uses a superconducting film as a sensor. The changes in the Casimir Energy within the superconductor volume is expected to shift the superconducting transition temperature because of an interaction between it and the superconducting condensation energy. The experiment we propose consists of taking a superconducting film, carefully measuring its transition temperature, bringing a conducting plate close to the film, creating a Casimir cavity, and then measuring the transition temperature again. The expected shifts will be small, ~1mK, comparable to the normal shifts one sees in cycling superconducting films to cryogenic temperatures and so using MEMS plates and doing this in situ is the only practical way to obtain accurate, reproducible data. We propose to use a MEMS device where the location of the plate can be changed while at low temperatures and look for this effect. Mechanically oscillating the MEMS plate position will modulate the effect and eliminate 1/f noise and long-term drifts from the measurement.