Measurements of the Casimir-Lifshitz force in fluids: the effect of electrostatic forces and Debye screening

TL;DR

This study measures the Casimir-Lifshitz force between gold surfaces in ethanol, examining electrostatic influences and Debye screening effects, and compares results with Lifshitz's theoretical predictions.

Contribution

It provides detailed experimental data on Casimir-Lifshitz forces in fluids, including effects of electrostatic forces and Debye screening, with improved calibration and theoretical comparison.

Findings

Electrostatic forces can be minimized with shielding.

Debye screening reduces electrostatic and Casimir-Lifshitz forces.

Experimental results agree with Lifshitz's theory for gold in ethanol.

Abstract

In this work, we present detailed measurements of the Casimir-Lifshitz force between two gold surfaces (a sphere and a plate) immersed in ethanol and study the effect of residual electrostatic forces, which are dominated by static fields within the apparatus and can be reduced with proper shielding. Electrostatic forces are further reduced by Debye screening through the addition of salt ions to the liquid. Additionally, the salt leads to a reduction of the Casimir-Lifshitz force by screening the zero-frequency contribution to the force; however, the effect is small between gold surfaces at the measured separations and within experimental error. An improved calibration procedure is described and compared to previous methods. Finally, the experimental results are compared to Lifshitz's theory and found to be consistent for the materials used in the experiment.