Abstract

This paper proposes a simple experiment to prove whether or not the Zero-Point Energy Field has an existence independent of nearby matter, and perhaps to discover if we can use this energy. Many scientists believe that such an Independent Quantum-Vacuum would exert Radiation Pressure on matter. The proposed experiment would obtain a net force from the Quantum-Vacuum because, like Nichols Radiometer, one side of a solid plate reflects more electromagnetic radiation or/and other particles than the other side, not because the incident electromagnetic flux itself is greater on one side. Unlike Nichols Radiometer, which absorbs unreflected light, a Transparent Quantum Thruster is mostly transparent to the photons that are not reflected; these unreflected photons, exert little- or no- opposite force on the Thruster. Therefore, the only remaining forces come from the two competing radiation-pressures of the virtual photons that are reflecting unequally from the two sides, causing a net radiation-pressure to act toward the more reflective side, a pressure that is potentially millions of times more powerful than the very-small visible-light radiation-pressure that is experienced by Nichols Radiometer, (not Crookes Radiometer.)