Profile
Jeremy N. Munday
Professor of electrical and computer engineering, University of California, Davis
Munday studies interactions between light and matter, including photonic materials and quantum effects. With Benjamin Spreng, he investigates how temperature changes the predicted Casimir torque between birefringent plates. Their calculations examine changes in its magnitude, angular dependence and direction for specified materials and separations, providing predictions for future experiments.
Affiliations
- University of California, Davis, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Channels
Bibliography
A bibliography listing does not establish authorship. Credits appear under attribution.
Published bibliography entries: 2. Showing 1–2 of 2.
Listed work
Paper · 2009
Measured long-range repulsive Casimir–Lifshitz forces
- J. N. Munday(Author)
- Federico Capasso(Author)
- V. Adrian Parsegian(Author)
Munday, Capasso and Parsegian measure a repulsive Casimir–Lifshitz interaction between a gold-coated sphere and a silica plate immersed in bromobenzene. Replacing the silica plate with gold changes the interaction to attraction while keeping the liquid and sphere material the same. The explanation depends on the liquid's dielectric response lying between those of the two solids across a broad frequency range. An atomic force microscope measures cantilever bending, and measurements at different approach speeds separate fluid drag from the interaction. The authors report uncertainty from material optical properties and warn that forces below 10 piconewtons cannot be measured accurately in this setup. They suggest levitation within a fluid and reduced sticking in tiny devices as possible applications, rather than demonstrated devices.
Listed work
Paper · 2025
Thermal Effects in the Casimir Torque between Birefringent Plates
- Benjamin Spreng(Author)
- Jeremy N. Munday(Author)
The Casimir effect, driven by quantum and thermal fluctuations, is well known for creating forces between closely spaced surfaces. Benjamin Spreng and Jeremy Munday study the related Casimir torque, which rotates optically anisotropic surfaces relative to each other. They examine, for the first time, how thermal fluctuations affect the torque between birefringent plates. Thermal modes reduce the torque substantially, by up to 2 orders of magnitude for strongly birefringent materials. Temperature also bends the torque's angular dependence away from the usual sinusoidal form, especially beyond the thermal wavelength. Pairs of dissimilar plates whose torque reverses with distance allow temperature to control both its size and direction, a design handle for nanoscale sensors.