2006/03/13 by F. Chen, U. Mohideen, G. L. Klimchitskaya +1 · 119 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Casimir effect #Classical mechanics #Condensed matter physics #Conductivity #Dielectric #Materials science #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Physics #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Quantum mechanics #Semiconductor #Thermal Radiation and Cooling Technologies #cond-mat.mtrl-sci #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreva.74.022103
published in Physical Review A 74(2) (American Physical Society) · 25 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables
arxiv created 2006/03/13 · openalex publication_date 2006/08/11 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The experimental investigation of the Casimir force between a large metallized sphere and semiconductor plate is performed using an atomic force microscope. Improved calibration and measurement procedures permitted a reduction in the role of different uncertainties. Rigorous statistical procedures are applied for the analysis of random, systematic, and total experimental errors at 95% confidence. The theoretical Casimir force is computed for semiconductor plates with different conductivity properties, taking into account all theoretical uncertainties discussed in the literature. The comparison between experiment and theory is done at both 95% and 70% confidence. It is demonstrated that the theoretical results computed for the semiconductor plate used in experiment are consistent with the data. At the same time, the theory describing a dielectric plate is excluded by experiment at 70% confidence. Thus, the Casimir force is proved to be sensitive to the conductivity properties of semiconductors.