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Casimir radiation with Weyl semimetals

Yang Hu1,2, Xiaohu Wu1,3,*, Haotuo Liu4, Mauro Antezza5,6, and Xiuquan Huang2,†

  • *Contact author: wuxiaohu@pku.org.cn
  • †Contact author: xiuquan_huang@nwpu.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. Research 7, 043328 – Published 24 December, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/ldyf-753c

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 semimetal (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 threefold localized plasmon modes of WSM NP split into localized circular modes with strong gyrotropic response, which opens up channels for Casimir radiation. This work provides a method for nanoscale energy conversion in NP systems.

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Phys. Rev. Research 7, 043328– Published 24 December, 2025
  • Received 3 June 2024
  • Revised 8 February 2025
  • Accepted 5 December 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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