Casimir Juggling

Casimir forces can dominate system behavior at the nanoscale; increasingly, efforts are being made to control and exploit them [1-3]. Here we propose a simple method for contact-free, dynamic levitation, handling, and physical diagnosis of micron and sub-micron particles in vacuum using these forces. This `Casimir juggling' should sidestep the negative effects of stiction and contact contamination. Analytic calculations and numerical modeling show particles can be levitated, transported and deposited with nanometer precision using kHz-MHz active-feedback Casimir probes. Standard laboratory techniques appear adequate to experimentally test this proposal.[1] V.A. Parsegian, Van der Waals Forces: A Handbook for Biologists, Chemists, Engineers, and Physicists (Cambridge University Press, 2006).[2] D.P. Sheehan and S.H. Nogami, Micro and Nanosystems 3, 348 (2011).[3] D.P. Sheehan, D.P., J. Chem. Phys. 131, 104706 (2009).