Related papers: Potential contributions of noncontact atomic force…
We review modern achievements and problems in physics of the van der Waals and Casimir forces which arise due to zero-point and thermal fluctuations of the electromagnetic field between closely spaced material surfaces. This subject…
Quantum fluctuations give rise to van der Waals and Casimir forces that dominate the interaction between electrically neutral objects at sub-micron separations. Under the trend of miniaturization, such quantum electrodynamical effects are…
Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) allows to probe matter at atomic scale by measuring the perturbation of a nanomechanical oscillator induced by near-field interaction forces. The quest to improve sensitivity and resolution of AFM has forced…
We demonstrate the application of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) based optical force microscopy to map the optical near-fields with nanometer resolution, limited only by the AFM probe geometry. We map the electric field distributions of…
We report an improved precision measurement of the Casimir force. The force is measured between a large Al coated sphere and flat plate using an Atomic Force Microscope. The primary experimental improvements include the use of smoother…
We propose a new method to investigate interactions involved in atomic force microscopy (AFM). It is a dynamical method relying on the growth of oscillations via parametric resonance. With this method the second and third derivatives of the…
The presence of boundary surfaces in the vacuum alters the ground state of the quantized electromagnetic field and can lead to the appearance of vacuum forces. In the last decade, landmark measurements of the vacuum stress between…
We report a systematic study to determine local elastic properties of surfaces combining atomic force microscope (AFM) with acoustic waves which is known as atomic force acoustic microscopy - AFAM. We describe the methodology of AFAM in…
Quantum mechanics predicts the occurrence of random electromagnetic field fluctuations, or virtual photons, in vacuum. The exchange of virtual photons between two bodies in relative motion could lead to non-contact quantum vacuum friction…
The Casimir force follows from quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field and yields a nonlinear attractive force between closely spaced conductive objects. Measuring the Casimir force in superconducting materials on either side of…
The physical origin of the Casimir force is connected with the existence of zero-point and thermal fluctuations. The Casimir effect is very general and finds applications in various fields of physics. This review is limited to the rapid…
The Casimir force provides a striking example of the effects of quantum fluctuations in a mesoscopic system. Because it arises from the objects' electromagnetic response, the necessary calculations in quantum field theory are most naturally…
The lateral Casimir-Polder force between an atom and a corrugated surface should allow one to study experimentally non trivial geometrical effects in quantum vacuum. Here, we derive the theoretical expression of this force in a scattering…
Several new experiments have extended studies of the Casimir force into new and interesting regimes. This recent work will be briefly reviewed. With this recent progress, new issues with background electrostatic effects have been uncovered.…
Strong coupling between vacuum fields and quantum matter occurs at the nanoscale and broadens the horizon of light-matter interaction. Nanoscale Casimir force, as an exhibition of vacuum fields, inevitably experiences the influence of…
The Casimir Effect is a physical manifestation of quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic vacuum. When two metal plates are placed closely together, typically much less than a micron, the long wavelength modes between them are frozen…
Using the measured optical response and surface roughness topography as inputs, we perform realistic calculations of the combined effect of Casimir and electrostatic forces on the actuation dynamics of micro-electromechanical systems…
Atomic force microscopy is an important tool for characterizing surface acoustic waves, in particular for high frequencies, where the wavelength is too short to be resolved by laser interferometry. A caveat is, that the cantilever…
We review the current status of the field of atom-surface interactions, with an emphasis on the regimes specific to atom chips. Recent developments in theory and experiment are highlighted. In particular, atom-surface interactions define…
The transition of van der Waals to Casimir forces between macroscopic gold surfaces is investigated by Atomic Force Microscopy in the plane-sphere geometry. It was found that the transition appears to take place at separations about 10 %…