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Measured long-range repulsive Casimir–Lifshitz forces

Author

Listed:
  • J. N. Munday

    (Department of Physics,)

  • Federico Capasso

    (School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA)

  • V. Adrian Parsegian

    (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA)

Abstract

Space is not completely empty; the vacuum teems with quantum mechanical energy fluctuations able to generate an attractive force between objects that are very close to each other. This 'Casimir–Lifshitz' force can cause static friction or 'stiction' in nanomachines, which must be strongly reduced. Until now only attractive interactions have been reported but in theory, if vacuum is replaced by certain media, Casimir–Lifshitz forces should become repulsive. This has now been confirmed experimentally. Repulsion, weaker than the attractive force, was measured in a carefully chosen system of interacting materials immersed in fluid. The magnitude of both forces increases as separation decreases. The repulsive forces could conceivably allow quantum levitation of objects in a fluid and lead to new types of switchable nanoscale devices with ultra-low static friction. Levitation depends only on the dielectric properties of the various materials. The cover illustrates repulsion between a tiny gold sphere and a silica substrate (left). Replace the silica with gold (right), and the force becomes attractive.

Suggested Citation

  • J. N. Munday & Federico Capasso & V. Adrian Parsegian, 2009. "Measured long-range repulsive Casimir–Lifshitz forces," Nature, Nature, vol. 457(7226), pages 170-173, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:457:y:2009:i:7226:d:10.1038_nature07610
    DOI: 10.1038/nature07610
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    Cited by:

    1. Zhujing Xu & Peng Ju & Xingyu Gao & Kunhong Shen & Zubin Jacob & Tongcang Li, 2022. "Observation and control of Casimir effects in a sphere-plate-sphere system," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.

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