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Casimir Force in Micro and Nano Electro Mechanical Systems

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Casimir Physics

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Physics ((LNP,volume 834))

Abstract

The last 10 years have seen the emergence of micro and nano mechanical force sensors capable of measuring the Casimir interaction with great accuracy and precision. These measurements have proved fundamental to further develop the understanding of vacuum fluctuations in the presence of boundary conditions. These micromechanical sensors have also allowed to quantify the influence of materials properties, sample geometry and unwanted interactions over the measurement of the Casimir force. In this review we describe the benefits of using micro-mechanical sensors to detect the Casimir interaction, we summarize the most recent experimental results and we suggest potential optomechanical experiments that would allow measuring this force in regimes that are currently unreachable.

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Acknowledgments

R. S. D. acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through grants Nos. CCF-0508239 and PHY-0701236, Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL) support through contract No. 49423-001-07. The authors are grateful to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) grant No. 09-Y557.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, 402 N. Blackford St., Bldg. LD154, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA

    Ricardo Decca

  2. Center for Nanoscale Science and Technolog, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Dr., Gaithersburg, MD, 20899, USA

    Vladimir Aksyuk

  3. Argonne National Laboratory, Center for Nanoscale Materials, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Lemont, IL, 60439, USA

    Daniel López

Authors
  1. Ricardo Decca
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  2. Vladimir Aksyuk
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  3. Daniel López
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, 87545, New Mexico, USA

    Diego Dalvit

  2. , Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, 87545, New Mexico, USA

    Peter Milonni

  3. Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, 87545, New Mexico, USA

    David Roberts

  4. , Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, 87545, New Mexico, USA

    Felipe da Rosa

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Decca, R., Aksyuk, V., López, D. (2011). Casimir Force in Micro and Nano Electro Mechanical Systems. In: Dalvit, D., Milonni, P., Roberts, D., da Rosa, F. (eds) Casimir Physics. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 834. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20288-9_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20288-9_9

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-20288-9

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