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Direct measurement of critical Casimir forces

Nature volume 451, pages 172–175 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

When fluctuating fields are confined between two surfaces, long-range forces arise. A famous example is the quantum-electrodynamical Casimir force that results from zero-point vacuum fluctuations confined between two conducting metal plates1. A thermodynamic analogue is the critical Casimir force: it acts between surfaces immersed in a binary liquid mixture close to its critical point and arises from the confinement of concentration fluctuations within the thin film of fluid separating the surfaces2. So far, all experimental evidence for the existence of this effect has been indirect3,4,5. Here we report the direct measurement of critical Casimir force between a single colloidal sphere and a flat silica surface immersed in a mixture of water and 2,6-lutidine near its critical point. We use total internal reflection microscopy to determine in situ the forces between the sphere and the surface, with femtonewton resolution6. Depending on whether the adsorption preferences of the sphere and the surface for water and 2,6-lutidine are identical or opposite, we measure attractive and repulsive forces, respectively, that agree quantitatively with theoretical predictions and exhibit exquisite dependence on the temperature of the system. We expect that these features of critical Casimir forces may result in novel uses of colloids as model systems.

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Figure 1: Data acquisition and analysis.
Figure 2: Critical Casimir potentials between a wall and a particle in a critical water–lutidine mixture.
Figure 3: Off-critical composition.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Maciołek for inspiring discussions and F. Schlesener, R. Dullens and D. Marr for comments and C. Mayer for sample preparation. This work is financially supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. 2. Physikalisches Institut, Universität Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany ,

    C. Hertlein, L. Helden & C. Bechinger

  2. Max-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung, Heisenbergstrasse 3, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany ,

    A. Gambassi & S. Dietrich

  3. Institut für Theoretische und Angewandte Physik, Pfaffenwaldring 57, Universität Stuttgart, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany

    A. Gambassi & S. Dietrich

Authors
  1. C. Hertlein
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  2. L. Helden
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  3. A. Gambassi
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  5. C. Bechinger
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Correspondence to C. Bechinger.

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Hertlein, C., Helden, L., Gambassi, A. et al. Direct measurement of critical Casimir forces. Nature 451, 172–175 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06443

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