Casimir and van der Waals forces: Advances and problems

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent progress and ongoing challenges in understanding Casimir and van der Waals forces, emphasizing experimental advances, theoretical developments, and applications in nanotechnology and novel materials like graphene.

Contribution

The paper summarizes fifteen years of experimental and theoretical progress and presents new results on Casimir forces involving gold, indium tin oxide, magnetic surfaces, and graphene.

Findings

New features of Casimir force between gold and indium tin oxide

Experimental and theoretical results on Casimir interaction between gold surfaces

Initial measurements and theory of Casimir effect in magnetic materials and graphene

Abstract

We review modern achievements and problems in physics of the van der Waals and Casimir forces which arise due to zero-point and thermal fluctuations of the electromagnetic field between closely spaced material surfaces. This subject attracted great experimental and theoretical attention during the last few years because the fluctuation-induced forces find a lot of applications in both fundamental physics and nanotechnology. After a short introduction to the subject, we describe main experimental and theoretical results obtained in the field during the last fifteen years. In the following presentation, we discuss some of the recent results by the authors and their collaborators which are of high promise for future developments. Specifically, we consider new features of the Casimir force acting between a gold sphere and an indium tin oxide plate, present the experimental and theoretical results on measuring the Casimir interaction between two gold surfaces by means of dynamic atomic force microscope, and outline first measurements of the Casimir interaction between magnetic surfaces and related theory. Special attention is devoted to the Casimir effect for graphene, which is the prospective material for microelectromechanical devices of next generations.