The Casimir force results from the alteration by boundaries of the zero point electromagnetic energy. We have used the atomic force microscope to make precision measurements of the Casimir force between a large gold coated sphere and a flat plate. The complete dielectric spectrum of the metal is used in the comparison of theory to the experiment. The average statistical precision is around 1% of the forces measured at the closest separation.

Topics
Transition metals, Dielectric spectroscopy, Casimir effect
This content is only available via PDF.
© 2001 American Institute of Physics.
2001
American Institute of Physics
You do not currently have access to this content.