Calculating Quantum Vacuum Forces in Nanostructures February 7,
2013 Contact: Vladimir Aksyuk One of the surprising predictions
of quantum mechanics is that uncharged conductors can attract
each other over small distances, even in empty space. While the
resulting “Casimir force” has been accurately measured and
calculated for simple flat conductors, researchers from the
Department of Energy, Indiana University-Purdue University
Indianapolis, and the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and
Technology have solved the much more complicated problem of
calculating this force between metal plates with complicated
periodic nanoscale structures on their surfaces.* This type of
surface nanostructuring is currently being explored in order to
control the Casimir force in microscopic mechanical sensors,
actuators, and electrical relay devices. The Casimir force has
been notoriously difficult to calculate for complicated
structures because an infinite number of electromagnetic quantum
vacuum fluctuations have to be taken in