Optical Chopper Driven by the Casimir Force

The C00exa00exs00exi00exm00exi00exr f00exo00exr00exc00exe arises from vacuum and thermal fluctuations of the electromagnetic field, and becomes dominant at separations of a few hundred nanometers, which is relevant for next-generation devices. The authors study a cyclic process caused by the balance between the light pressure and Casimir forces in a Fabry-Perot microresonator. The suggested Casimir microresonator converts continuous laser light into pulses---much like a traditional chopper in function, yet simpler in form and far, far smaller.