03.02.2020 AMOLF physicists have made mechanical vibrations on a chip behave as if they were electrical currents flowing in a magnetic field. Their work made the cover of Nature Nanotechnology.

HOT PI, Prof. Ewold Verhagen, who leads the Photonic Forces group at AMOLF, explains:  “At these very small length scales, photons interact with the nanostring through a force called radiation pressure, which is proportional to the light intensity. Vibrations in the string can slightly change this light intensity. With two strings illuminated by a laser, vibrations in the first string influence the radiation pressure exerted on the second string. If the frequency is right, this causes the second string to vibrate as well.”

Read more