Measurement of the Temperature Dependence of the Casimir-Polder Force

J. M Obrecht (1) , R. J Wild (1) , M. Antezza (2) , L. P Pitaevskii (2, 3) , S. Stringari (2) , E. A Cornell (1)

1 JILA - Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics
2 Dipartimento di Fisica [Povo]
3 Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems [Moscow]

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.

Domaines: Physique [physics]

J. M Obrecht, R. J Wild, M. Antezza, L. P Pitaevskii, S. Stringari, et al.. Measurement of the Temperature Dependence of the Casimir-Polder Force. Physical Review Letters, 2007, 98 (6), pp.063201. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.063201⟩. ⟨hal-02964046⟩