Gradient of the Casimir force between Au surfaces of a sphere and a plate measured using atomic force microscope in a frequency shift technique

TL;DR

This study measures the gradient of the Casimir force between gold surfaces using an atomic force microscope, comparing results with theoretical models and challenging the validity of the Drude model.

Contribution

First direct measurement of the Casimir force gradient between Au surfaces using frequency shift technique with detailed calibration and comparison to theoretical models.

Findings

Data agrees with Lifshitz theory and plasma-like models

Drude model approach is excluded at 67% confidence level

Results highlight need for re-evaluation of dispersion force theories

Abstract

We present measurement results for the gradient of the Casimir force between an Au-coated sphere and an Au-coated plate obtained by means of an atomic force microscope operated in a frequency shift technique. This experiment was performed at a pressure of 3x10^{-8} Torr with hollow glass sphere of 41.3 mcm radius. Special attention is paid to electrostatic calibrations including the problem of electrostatic patches. All calibration parameters are shown to be separation-independent after the corrections for mechanical drift are included. The gradient of the Casimir force was measured in two ways with applied compensating voltage to the plate and with different applied voltages and subsequent subtraction of electric forces. The obtained mean gradients are shown to be in mutual agreement and in agreement with previous experiments performed using a micromachined oscillator. The obtained data are compared with theoretical predictions of the Lifshitz theory including corrections beyond the proximity force approximation. An independent comparison with no fitting parameters demonstrated that the Drude model approach is excluded by the data at a 67% confidence level over the separation region from 235 to 420 nm. The theoretical approach using the generalized plasma-like model is shown to be consistent with the data over the entire measurement range. Corrections due to the nonlinearity of oscillator are calculated and the application region of the linear regime is determined. A conclusion is made that the results of several performed experiments call for a thorough analysis of the basics of the theory of dispersion forces.