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A fundamental prediction of quantum mechanics is that there are random fluctuations everywhere in a vacuum because of the zero-point energy. Remarkably, quantum electromagnetic fluctuations can induce a measurable force between neutral…
The manipulation of microscopic objects requires precise and controllable forces and torques. Recent advances have led to the use of critical Casimir forces as a powerful tool, which can be finely tuned through the temperature of the…
We develop a computational study of Casimir forces between three dimensional (3D) finite objects with an internal granular structure. The objects in the model consist of a finite arrangement of nanometer sized spherical particles having a…
We propose a method of achieving large temperature sensitivity in the Casimir force that involves measuring the stable separation between dielectric objects immersed in fluid. We study the Casimir force between slabs and spheres using…
In any medium there are fluctuations due to temperature or due to the quantum nature of its constituents. If a material body is immersed into such a medium, its shape and the properties of its constituents modify the properties of the…
Forces induced by quantum fluctuations of electromagnetic field control adhesion phenomena between rough solids when the bodies are separated by distances ~10nm. However, this distance range remains largely unexplored experimentally in…
In a recent letter, Martin and Zagrebnov [Europhys. Lett., 73 (2006) 1] discussed the thermodynamic Casimir effect for the ideal Bose gas confined in a thin film. We point out that their findings can be expressed in terms of previous…
Motivated by recent experiments with confined binary liquid mixtures near demixing, we study the universal critical properties of a system, which belongs to the Ising universality class, in the film geometry. We employ periodic boundary…
We study the electrostatic Casimir effect and related phenomena in equilibrium statistical mechanics of classical (non-quantum) charged fluids. The prototype model consists of two identical dielectric slabs in empty space (the pure Casimir…
The subtle interplay between critical phenomena and electrostatics is investigated by considering the effective force acting on two parallel walls confining a near-critical binary liquid mixture with added salt. The ion-solvent coupling can…
The Casimir effect refers to the existence of a macroscopic force between conducting plates in vacuum due to quantum fluctuations of fields. These forces play an important role, among other things, in the design of nano-scale mechanical…
Systems with an O(n) symmetrical Hamiltonian are considered in a $d$-dimensional slab geometry of macroscopic lateral extension and finite thickness $L$ that undergo a continuous bulk phase transition in the limit $L\to\infty$. The…
To study the critical Casimir force between chemically structured boundaries immersed in a binary mixture at its demixing transition, we consider a strip of Ising spins subject to alternating fixed spin boundary conditions. The system…
We report the observation of a temperature-controlled synchronization of two Brownian-particles in a binary mixture close to the critical point of the demixing transition. The two beads are trapped by two optical tweezers whose distance is…
Lateral Casimir force near a laterally-inhomogeneous plate is first revealed by both rigorous simulations and proximity approximations. The inhomogeneity-induced lateral Casimir force provides a novel method to control the lateral motion of…
We develop a theory to probe the effect of non-equilibrium fluctuation-induced forces on the size of a polymer confined between two horizontal thermally conductive plates subject to a constant temperature gradient, $\nabla T$. We assume…
We investigate the critical behavior of a near-critical fluid confined between two parallel plates in contact with a reservoir by calculating the order parameter profile and the Casimir amplitudes (for the force density and for the grand…
A stable suspension of nanoscale particles due to the Casimir force is of great interest for many applications such as sensing, non-contract nano-machines. However, the suspension properties are difficult to change once the devices are…
Zero-point fluctuations in quantum fields give rise to observable forces between material bodies, the so-called Casimir forces. In this lecture I present some results of the theory of the Casimir effect, primarily formulated in terms of…
Fluctuation-induced forces, such as the Critical Casimir Effect (CCE), are fundamental mechanisms driving organization and self-assembly near second-order phase transitions. The existence of a comparable, universal force for systems…