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Measurement of the Temperature Dependence of the Casimir-Polder Force

J. M. Obrecht·R. J. Wild·M. Antezza·L. P. Pitaevskii·S. Stringari·E. A. Cornell
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Abstract

We report on the first measurement of a temperature dependence of the Casimir-Polder force. This measurement was obtained by positioning a nearly pure 87-Rb Bose-Einstein condensate a few microns from a dielectric substrate and exciting its dipole oscillation. Changes in the collective oscillation frequency of the magnetically trapped atoms result from spatial variations in the surface-atom force. In our experiment, the dielectric substrate is heated up to 605 K, while the surrounding environment is kept near room temperature (310 K). The effect of the Casimir-Polder force is measured to be nearly 3 times larger for a 605 K substrate than for a room-temperature substrate, showing a clear temperature dependence in agreement with theory.

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J. M. Obrecht, R. J. Wild, M. Antezza, L. P. Pitaevskii, S. Stringari, E. A. Cornell. 2007-02-08. Measurement of the Temperature Dependence of the Casimir-Polder Force. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.98.063201

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