Rotational Quantum Friction

TL;DR

This paper studies quantum friction acting on a rotating sphere near a surface, revealing that material properties and surface plasmon polaritons significantly influence the magnitude of quantum friction at zero temperature.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of quantum friction for rotating spheres near surfaces, highlighting the effects of material conductivity and surface plasmon polaritons on frictional forces.

Findings

Quantum friction near a surface is much larger than in vacuum.

Materials with poor conductivity can produce larger quantum friction.

Surface plasmon polaritons can enhance quantum friction by several orders of magnitude.

Abstract

We investigate the frictional forces due to quantum fluctuations acting on a small sphere rotating near a surface. At zero temperature, we find the frictional force near a surface to be several orders of magnitude larger than that for the sphere rotating in vacuum. For metallic materials with typical conductivity, quantum friction is maximized by matching the frequency of rotation with the conductivity. Materials with poor conductivity are favored to obtain large quantum frictions. For semiconductor materials that are able to support surface plasmon polaritons, quantum friction can be further enhanced by several orders of magnitude due to the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons.