Introduction
Hendrik
Brugt Gerhard Casimir (1909-2000)
"On
the attraction between two perfectly conducting plates,"
H.B.G.
Casimir, Proc. K. Ned. Akad. Wet. 51,
793 (1948)
Normal modes
of the Electromagnetic (EM) field between (ideal metal) plates:
Quantum fluctuations
of these modes, lead to a zero point energy: (see, e.g. Casimir
effect)
This leads
to a finite attractive force between plates,
"The
Theory of Molecular Attractive Forces Between Solids,"
E.M.
Lifshitz, Soviet Physics 2,
73 (1956),
Generalizes to
parallel plates of arbitrary (frequency dependent)
dielectrics; can be repulsive.
Experimental Verification
Early experiments
provided at best qualitative support for an attractive force:
Abrikosova & Deriagin,
Sov. Phys. JETP 4, 1957 (1957). [Silica
lenses]
M.J.
Sparnaay, Physica 24, 751 (1958). [Aluminum
plates at distances H~1-100
nm]
J.
N. Israelachvili & D. Tabor, Proc. R. Soc. Lon A 331,
19 (1972) [mica H>1µm]
van
Blokland & Overbeek, J. Chem. Soc. F-T. I 74, 2637
(1978). [H~1-100 nm]
The era of
high precision tests, started with S. K. Lamoreaux 
"Demonstration
of the Casimir Force in the 0.6 to 6µm Range," (using
a torsion pendulum)
Phys. Rev.
Lett. 78, 5 (1997)
U.
Mohideen (and collaborators at UC Riverside), using atomic force
microscopy
"Precision Measurements of
the Casimir Force from 0.1 to 0.9µm,"
U. Mohideen and A. Roy,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, (1998)
T. Ederth (geometry
of crossed cylinders)
"Template-stripped gold surfaces
... Casimir force in the 20–100-nm range,"
T. Ederth, Phys. A 62,
062104 (2000)
G.
Bressi, G. Carugno, R. Onofrio, and G. Ruoso,
"Measurement of the Casimir Force
between Parallel Metallic Surfaces,"
Phys. Rev. Lett. 88,
041804 (2002)
R.S. Decca,
D. Lopez, E. Fischbach, and D.E. Krause, Phys.
Rev. Lett. 91, 050402 (2003)
"Measurement of the Casimir Force
between dissimilar metals,"
Applications
F.
Michael Serry, Dirk Walliser, and G. Jordan Maclay,
"The role of the casimir effect
in the static deflection and stiction of membrane strips in microelectromechanical
systems (MEMS),"
J. Appl. Phys. 84,
2501 (1998)
E.
Buks and M. L. Roukes,
"Stiction, adhesion energy, and
the Casimir effect in micromechanical systems,"
Phys. Rev. B 63,
033402 (2001)
H.
B. Chan, V. A. Aksyuk, R. N. Kleiman, D. J. Bishop, Federico Capasso,
"Quantum Mechanical Actuation
of Microelectromechanical Systems by the Casimir Force,"
Science 291,
1941 (2001)
G.
Palasantzas and J. Th. M. De Hosson,
"Pull-in characteristics of electromechanical
switches in the presence of Casimir forces: Influence of self-affine
surface roughness,"
Phys. Rev. B 72,
115426 (2005)
Fabrizio
Pinto, InterstellarTechCorp
Challenges
to high percision tests come from:
Geometry:
non-planar shapes, roughness, ...
Material:
non-ideal metals, impurities, ...
Environment:
finite temperatures, ...
