We show that a particle emitting in close proximity to a magneto-optical metamaterial substrate can experience a repulsive force if the magnetization is found along the surface plane. An analytical condition for the existence of such a repulsive force is obtained within the near-field approximation. Significantly, the repulsive force can be tuned by varying the filling fraction in a stack of two alternating layers of a metallic magneto-optical material and a dielectric. Potential applications can be envisaged for nanomechanical devices, particularly since similar metamaterial architectures have already been developed experimentally.

• Received 25 August 2016
• Revised 17 November 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.94.245430