Measurement of the temperature dependence of the Casimir-Polder force.
We report on the first measurement of a temperature dependence of the Casimir-Polder force. This measurement was obtained by positioning a nearly pure 87Rb Bose-Einstein condensate a few microns from a dielectric substrate and exciting its dipole oscillation. Changes in the collective oscillation frequency of the magnetically trapped atoms result from spatial variations in the surface-atom force. In our experiment, the dielectric substrate is heated up to 605 K, while the surrounding environment is kept near room temperature (310 K). The effect of the Casimir-Polder force is measured to be nearly 3 times larger for a 605 K substrate than for a room-temperature substrate, showing a clear temperature dependence in agreement with theory.
Obrecht
J M
JM
JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0440, USA.
Wild
R J
RJ
Antezza
M
M
Pitaevskii
L P
LP
Stringari
S
S
Cornell
E A
EA