Casimir radiation with Weyl semimetals

TL;DR

This paper explores how nonreciprocal Weyl semimetal nanoparticles exhibit significantly enhanced Casimir radiation due to their unique electromagnetic properties, offering new avenues for nanoscale energy conversion.

Contribution

It introduces the study of Casimir radiation in Weyl semimetal nanoparticles, revealing their high radiative heat flux and novel plasmonic modes that enable efficient energy transfer.

Findings

Weyl semimetal NP has 27 times higher heat flux than degenerate mode NP.

Localized plasmon modes split into circular modes with gyrotropic response.

Casimir radiation can be harnessed for nanoscale energy conversion.

Abstract

When Casimir friction torque acts upon a rotated nanoparticle (NP), mechanical energy can be transformed into thermal energy, known as Casimir radiation, which significantly affects the thermal performance of nanoelectromechanical systems. In this work, we investigate Casimir radiation with nonreciprocal Weyl semimetals (WSM) NP levitated on a plate. WSM NP with inherent nonreciprocity has a radiative heat flux 27 times higher than NP with degenerate modes. The underlying physics is elucidated by the coupling and decoupling of the electromagnetic local density of states between nonreciprocal WSN NP and the plate in the near-field. The three-fold localized plasmon modes of WSM NP split into localized circular modes with strong gyrotropic response, which opens up new channels for Casimir radiation. This work provides a new method for nanoscale energy conversion in NP systems.