title: Towards measuring variations of Casimir energy by a superconducting cavity.
abstract: We consider a Casimir cavity, one plate of which is a thin superconducting film. We show that when the cavity is cooled below the critical temperature for the onset of superconductivity, the sharp variation (in the far infrared) of the reflection coefficient of the film engenders a variation in the value of the Casimir energy. Even though the relative variation in the Casimir energy is very small, its magnitude can be comparable to the condensation energy of the superconducting film, and this gives rise to a number of testable effects, including a significant increase in the value of the critical magnetic field, required to destroy the superconductivity of the film. The theoretical ground is therefore prepared for the first experiment ever aimed at measuring variations of the Casimir energy itself.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, Università di Napoli Federico II, Via Cintia, I-80126 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bimonte
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Calloni
authors.forename: Giampiero
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Esposito
authors.forename: Leopoldo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Milano
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rosa