The Casimir force between real materials: Experiment and theory

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 progress at the intersection of experiment and theory that has been achieved in the last few years. It includes a critical assessment of the proposed approaches to the resolution of the puzzles arising in the applications of the Lifshitz theory of the van der Waals and Casimir forces to real materials. All the primary experiments on the measurement of the Casimir force between macroscopic bodies and the Casimir-Polder force between an atom and a wall that have been performed in…

• NS
  National Science Foundation
• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy

  Awards: DE-FG02-, DE-FG02
• DF
  Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft