This thesis presents the first realization of non-reciprocal energy transfer between two cantilevers by quantum vacuum fluctuations. According to quantum mechanics, vacuum is not empty but full of fluctuations due to zero-point energy. Such quantum vacuum fluctuations can lead to an attractive force between two neutral plates in vacuum – the so-called Casimir effect – which has attracted great attention as macroscopic evidence of quantum electromagnetic fluctuations, and can dominate the interaction between neutral surfaces at small separations. The first experimental demonstration of...

This thesis presents the first realization of non-reciprocal energy transfer between two cantilevers by quantum vacuum fluctuations. According to quantum mechanics, vacuum is not empty but full of fluctuations due to zero-point energy. Such quantum vacuum fluctuations can lead to an attractive force between two neutral plates in vacuum – the so-called Casimir effect – which has attracted great attention as macroscopic evidence of quantum electromagnetic fluctuations, and can dominate the interaction between neutral surfaces at small separations. The first experimental demonstration of...