Casimir radiation with Weyl semimetals

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.