Spooky quantum physical force harnessed for MEMS

摘要

Physicists at Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs, Murray Hill, NJ, have made a microscopic seesaw that moves in response to a little known but strong and pervasive force predicted by quantum mechanics. This experiment, which was reported in Science, shows that esoteric physical effects are important in designing nanoscale machines, which are 1000 times smaller than today's micromachines. It also suggests that such effects might be used to make extremely sensitive sensors in the future. This work is part of Bell Labs' physicists' research into microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). Federico Capasso, physical research VP at Bell Labs and a member of the team that produced the seesaw, said, "We are using our expertise in MEMS to fashion creative experiments that illustrate what little-known quantum effects come into play in extremely small devices." Other Bell Labs physicists involved in the experiment were Ho Bun Chan, Vladimir Aksyuk, Rafael Kleiman, and David Bishop.