Casimir Forces


Thoery

"On the attraction between two perfectly conducting plates,"

H.B.G. Casimir, Proc. K. Ned. Akad. Wet. 51, 793 (1948)

Quantum fluctuations of electromagnetic field in the vacuum between leads to an attractive force between perfect mirrors

"The Theory of Molecular Attractive Forces Between Solids,"

E.M. Lifshitz, Soviet Physics 2, 73 (1956),

 Generalizes the result by considering fluctuating current sources in the bodies.


Experiment

 "Demonstration of the Casimir Force in the 0.6 to 6µm Range," (using a torsion pendulum)

S.K. Lamoreaux, Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 5 (1997)

   

  "Precision Measurements of the Casimir Force from 0.1 to 0.9µm," (using atomic force microscopy)

U. Mohideen and A. Roy, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 4549 (1998) (offline)

   Many other groups ....


Applications

Important in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS): micron-scale metallic machines

 

  "The role of the casimir effect in the static deflection and stiction of membrane strips in MEMS,"

 F. Michael Serry, Dirk Walliser, and G. Jordan Maclay, J. Appl. Phys. 84, 2501 (1998)

  "Stiction, adhesion energy, and the Casimir effect in micromechanical systems,"

 E. Buks and M. L. Roukes, Phys. Rev. B 63, 033402 (2001)

  "Quantum Mechanical Actuation of Microelectromechanical Systems by the Casimir Force,"

 H. B. Chan, V. A. Aksyuk, R. N. Kleiman, D. J. Bishop, Federico Capasso, Science 291, 1941 (2001)

   

  Stiction due to the attractive Casimir force is a challenge to design and operation of MEMs

 DARPA program on Casimir Effect Enhancement (Scientific American)