Development of a high-sensitivity torsion balance to investigate the thermal Casimir force

TL;DR

This paper presents a high-sensitivity torsion balance designed to measure the thermal Casimir force, focusing on understanding surface electric forces from patch potentials to improve the accuracy of force measurements in real materials.

Contribution

The development of a specialized torsion balance for precise thermal Casimir force measurements and analysis of surface electric forces from patch potentials.

Findings

Enhanced measurement sensitivity for thermal Casimir force

Identification of surface electric forces affecting measurements

Framework for accurate force measurement in real materials

Abstract

We report development of a high-sensitivity torsion balance to measure the thermal Casimir force. Special emphasis is placed on experimental investigations of a possible surface electric force originating from surface patch potentials that have been recently noticed by several experimental groups. By gaining a proper understanding of the actual contribution of the surface electric force in real materials, we aim to undertake precision force measurements to resolve the Casimir force at finite temperature in real metals, as well as in other semiconducting materials, such as graphene.