Influence of electric current on the Casimir forces between graphene sheets

TL;DR

This paper explores how the drift velocity of electrons in graphene sheets influences the thermal Casimir force, revealing measurable effects due to Doppler shifts and resonant photon tunneling, with implications for quantum friction detection.

Contribution

It demonstrates the impact of electron drift velocity on the Casimir force and friction between graphene sheets, highlighting the role of resonant photon tunneling and quantum fluctuations.

Findings

Drift velocity causes measurable changes in Casimir force via Doppler effect.

Resonant photon tunneling enhances Casimir interactions and quantum friction.

Quantum friction dominates at high electric fields and above room temperature.

Abstract

We investigate the dependence of the thermal Casimir force between two graphene sheets on the drift velocity of the electrons in one graphene sheet. We show that the drift motion produces a measurable change of the thermal Casimir force due to the Doppler effect. The thermal Casimir force as well as the Casimir friction are strongly enhanced in the case of resonant photon tunneling when the energy of the emitted photon coincides with the energy of electron-hole pair excitations. In the case of resonant photon tunneling, even for temperatures above room temperature the Casimir friction is dominated by quantum friction due to quantum fluctuations. Quantum friction can be detected in frictional drag experiment between graphene sheets for high electric field.