title: Optical detection of the Casimir force between macroscopic objects.
abstract: We report the optical detection of mechanical deformation of a macroscopic object induced by the Casimir force. An adaptive holographic interferometer based on a photorefractive BaTiO3:Co crystal was used to measure periodical nonlinear deformations of a thin pellicle caused by an oscillating Casimir force. A reasonable agreement between the experimental and calculated values of the first and second harmonics of the Casimir force oscillations has been obtained.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Physics, Darmstadt University of Tecnology, Hochschulstrasse 6, Darmstadt 64289, Germany. victor.petrov@physik.tu-darmstadt.de
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Petrov
authors.forename: Mikhail
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Petrov
authors.forename: Valeriy
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bryksin
authors.forename: Juergen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Petter
authors.forename: Theo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tschudi