title: Sensitive measurement of forces at the micron scale using Bloch oscillations of ultracold atoms.
abstract: We show that Bloch oscillations of ultracold fermionic atoms in the periodic potential of an optical lattice can be used for a sensitive measurement of forces at the micrometer length scale, e.g., in the vicinity of a dielectric surface. In particular, the proposed approach allows us to perform a local and direct measurement of the Casimir-Polder force which is, for realistic experimental parameters, as large as 10(-4) gravity.
authors.affiliation: Istituto Nazionale per Fisica per la Materia BEC-CRS and Dipartimento di Fisica, Universitá di Trento, I-38050 Povo, Italy.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Carusotto
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pitaevskii
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stringari
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Modugno
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Inguscio