Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Quantum physics

Casimir force changes sign

Nature volume 419, pages 119–120 (2002)Cite this article

This quantum attractive force induces measurable effects between ultrasmall mechanical components. New calculations indicate that systems could be engineered in which Casimir forces are repulsive.

In 1948, Hendrik Casimir calculated that the quantum fluctuations of an electromagnetic field, so-called zero-point fluctuations, give rise to an attractive force between objects1. This force is a particularly striking consequence of the quantum theory of electrodynamics (for a review, see ref. 2). Casimir's calculations were idealized — he considered two perfectly conducting parallel plates at absolute-zero temperature — but there are implications for more realistic objects. In Physical Review Letters, Kenneth et al.3 have extended these considerations to real-world materials.

This is a preview of subscription content

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Figure 1: A Casimir-like effect at sea.

References

  1. Casimir, H. B. G. Proc. Kon. Ned. Akad. 51, 793–795 (1948).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Bordag, M., Mohideen, U. & Mostepanenko, V. M. Phys. Rep. 353, 1–205 (2001).

    ADS  MathSciNet  Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Kenneth, O., Klich, I., Mann, A. & Rezen, M. Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 033001 (2002).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Boyer, T. H. Phys. Rev. A 9, 2078–2084 (1974).

    ADS  Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Caussée, P. C. L'Album du Marin (Mantes, Charpentier, 1836).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Boersma, S. L. Am. J. Phys. 64, 539–541 (1996).

    ADS  Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Milonni, P. W., Cook, R. J. & Goggin, M. E. Phys. Rev. A 38, 1621–1623 (1988).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Milonni, P. W. The Quantum Vacuum – An Introduction to Quantum Electrodynamics (Academic, New York, 1994).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  9. Chan, H. B., Aksyuk, V. A., Kleiman, R. N., Bishop, D. J. & Capasso, F. Science 291, 1941–1944 (2001).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Affiliations

  1. the Department of Electrical Engineering, Technion, Haifa, 32000, Israel

    Eyal Buks

  2. the Condensed Matter Physics Group, Caltech 114-36, Pasadena, 91125, California, USA

    Michael L. Roukes

Authors
  1. Eyal Buks
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael L. Roukes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Eyal Buks or Michael L. Roukes.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Buks, E., Roukes, M. Casimir force changes sign. Nature 419, 119–120 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/419119a

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/419119a

Further reading

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing