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The Casimir effect in microstructured geometries

Nature Photonics volume 5, pages 211–221 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

In 1948, Hendrik Casimir predicted that a generalized version of van der Waals forces would arise between two metal plates due to quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field. These forces become significant in micromechanical systems at submicrometre scales, such as in the adhesion between movable parts. The Casimir force, through a close connection to classical photonics, can depend strongly on the shapes and compositions of the objects, stimulating a decades-long search for geometries in which the force behaves very differently from the monotonic attractive force first predicted by Casimir. Recent theoretical and experimental developments have led to a new understanding of the force in complex microstructured geometries, including through recent theoretical predictions of Casimir repulsion between vacuum-separated metals, the stable suspension of objects and unusual non-additive and temperature effects, as well as experimental observations of repulsion in fluids, non-additive forces in nanotrench surfaces and the influence of new material choices.

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Figure 1: Relationship between van der Waals, Casimir–Polder and Casimir forces, whose origins lie in the quantum fluctuations of dipoles.
Figure 2: Results and set-ups of various experiments that have measured Casimir forces in the sphere–plate geometry.
Figure 3: Theoretical developments in the study of the influence of geometry and material choice on the Casimir force.
Figure 4: Experimental and theoretical works on a nanotrench geometry in which the Casimir force deviates significantly from the predictions of the PFA.
Figure 5: Experimental and theoretical works demonstrating the possibility of achieving Casimir repulsion, stable suspension of objects and large temperature effects in fluids.
Figure 6: Experimental demonstration of the influence of the Casimir effect on the micromechanical torsional-oscillator device of ref. 46 (shown in Fig. 2b).
Figure b1: Illustration of the conceptual difference underlying the physics of narrow-bandwidth classical photonic phenomena, best viewed at real frequencies ω, and broad-bandwidth quantum electromagnetic fluctuations (Casimir forces), best viewed at imaginary frequencies iκ.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank D. Iannuzzi, D. Woolf, M. Ibanescu, A. P. McCauley, H. Chan, J. N. Munday, V. A. Parsegian, S. Lamoreaux, J. D. Joannopoulos, M. Kardar, R. L. Jaffe, T. Emig, D. A. R. Dalvit and M. Lissanti for collaborations and discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, 02138, Massachusetts, USA

    Alejandro W. Rodriguez & Federico Capasso

  2. Department of Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts, USA

    Alejandro W. Rodriguez & Steven G. Johnson

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  1. Alejandro W. Rodriguez
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  2. Federico Capasso
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  3. Steven G. Johnson
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Correspondence to Federico Capasso.

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Rodriguez, A., Capasso, F. & Johnson, S. The Casimir effect in microstructured geometries. Nature Photon 5, 211–221 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2011.39

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