Constraining New Forces in the Casimir Regime Using the Isoelectronic Technique

Abstract

We report the first isoelectronic differential force measurements between a Au-coated probe and two Au-coated films, made out of Au and Ge. These measurements, performed at submicron separations using soft microelectromechanical torsional oscillators, eliminate the need for a detailed understanding of the probe-film Casimir interaction. The observed differential signal is directly converted into limits on the parameters α and λ which characterize Yukawa-like deviations from Newtonian gravity. We find α < ∼ 10 12 for λ ∼ 200 nm, an improvement of ∼ 10 over previous limits.

Casimir force in the presence of a medium

“…Moreover the possibility of transducing the energy from the vacuum is investigated by means of MEMS [8][9][10]. Many attempts have been focused on observing the Casimir force and performing high-precision measurements during last few years [11][12][13][14][15][16]. All these experiments are in agree with the prediction of the Casimir [1] within a few percents.…”

Casimir forces on a silicon micromechanical chip

“…Furthermore, the design can be integrated with suspended planar waveguide elements so that classical optical gradient forces 31 and Casimir forces associated with virtual photons can be simultaneously utilized in these optomechanical systems. Nevertheless, much progress will be necessary, particularly in sample fabrication and characterization, to achieve the o5% agreement between theory and measurement 18,21,22 that has been claimed in conventional Casimir force experiments between spheres and plates.…”

“…However, demonstration of Casimir forces between micromachined surfaces in a single micromechanical chip has remained elusive, because standard experimental schemes require an external object to be manually positioned close to either cantilevers or torsional balances 4,8,[19][20][21][22] . Bulky micropositioners and piezoelectric actuators are required to control the separation between the two interacting bodies.…”

Constraints on non-Newtonian gravity and light elementary particles from measurements of the Casimir force by means of a dynamic atomic force microscope

“…2 we again plot line 2 representing the constraints on the Yukawa interaction obtained from the experiment using a magnetic plate [41] independently of any selection between the different theoretical approaches to the Casimir force. In the same figure, the constraints following from the dynamic determination of the Casimir pressure by means of a micromachined oscillator [19,20] are shown by line 3, from the Casimir-less experiment [49], where the Casimir force was compensated, are shown by line 4, from measurement of the Casimir-Polder force between rubidium atoms belonging to the Bose-Einstein condensate and SiO 2 plate [35] are shown by line 5 [21], and from measurement of the Casimir force between smooth Au-coated sphere and Si plate covered with nanoscale trapezoidal corrugations [50] are shown by line 6 [51]. The constraints of Ref.…”