| We study a nano-scale system composed of one corrugated cylinder (pinion) placed between two corrugated plates (racks). The pinion and racks have no mechanical contact, but are coupled via the lateral Casimir force. The non-contact design of the device could help with the noteworthy wear problem in nano-scale mechanical systems. We consider the case where both racks undergo harmonic lateral motion. We assume that the amplitude, frequency, and phase of one of the racks is known. We show that probing the pinion motion, one can determine the vibration characteristics of the other rack. |
|