Measurement of the Casimir Force between Parallel Metallic Surfaces

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

We report on the measurement of the Casimir force between conducting surfaces in a parallel configuration. The force is exerted between a silicon cantilever coated with chromium and a similar rigid surface and is detected by looking at the shifts induced in the cantilever frequency when the latter is approached. The scaling of the force with the distance between the surfaces was tested in the 0.5-3.0 microm range, and the related force coefficient was determined at the 15% precision level.

Related collections

Most cited references 15

Record: found
Abstract: not found
Article: not found

Demonstration of the Casimir Force in the 0.6 to6μmRange

S K Lamoreaux (1997)

0 comments Cited 546 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Quantum mechanical actuation of microelectromechanical systems by the Casimir force.

H. Chan, V. Aksyuk, R. N. Kleiman … (2001)

The Casimir force is the attraction between uncharged metallic surfaces as a result of quantum mechanical vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field. We demonstrate the Casimir effect in microelectromechanical systems using a micromachined torsional device. Attraction between a polysilicon plate and a spherical metallic surface results in a torque that rotates the plate about two thin torsional rods. The dependence of the rotation angle on the separation between the surfaces is in agreement with calculations of the Casimir force. Our results show that quantum electrodynamical effects play a significant role in such microelectromechanical systems when the separation between components is in the nanometer range.