Quantum Levitation (IMAGE)

Harvard University

Quantum Levitation

Caption

This is an artist's rendition of how the repulsive Casimir-Lifshitz force between suitable materials in a fluid can be used to quantum mechanically levitate a small object of density greater than the liquid. Figures are not drawn to scale. In the foreground a gold sphere, immersed in Bromobenzene, levitates above a silica plate. Background: when the plate is replaced by one of gold levitation is impossible because the Casimir-Lifshitz force is always attractive between identical materials.

Credit

Courtesy of the lab of Federico Capasso, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

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