Introduction
Hendrik
Brugt Gerhard Casimir (1909-2000)
H.B.G.
Casimir, Proc. K. Ned. Acad. 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,
Experimental Verification
Early experiments
provided at best qualitative support for an attractive force:
M.J.
Sparnaay, Physica 24, 751 (1958). [Aluminum
plates at distances H>1µm]
Abrikosova
& Deriagin, Sov. Phys. JETP 4, 1957 (1957). [Silica
lenses]
van
Blokland & Oveerbeek, 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 0.9mm,"
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)
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.
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,"
Challenges
to high percision tests come from:
Geometry:
non-planar shapes, roughness, ...
Material:
non-ideal metals, impurities, ...
Environment:
finite temperatures, gas particles, ...