  The Casimir Effect is a physical manifestation of quantum fluctuations of the
electromagnetic vacuum. When two metal plates are placed closely together,
typically much less than a micron, the long wavelength modes between them are
frozen out, giving rise to a net attractive force between the plates, scaling
as d^-4 (or d^-3 for a spherical-planar geometry) even when they are not
electrically charged. In this paper we observe the Casimir Effect in ambient
conditions using a modified capacitive MEMS accelerometer. Using a feedback
assisted pick-and-place assembly process we are able to attach various
micro-structures onto the post-release MEMS, converting it from an inertial
force sensor to a direct force measurement platform with pN resolution. With
this system we are able to directly measure the Casimir force between a
silver-coated microsphere and gold-coated silicon plate. This device is a step
towards leveraging the Casimir Effect for cheap, sensitive, room temperature
quantum metrology.

Applied Physics