title: Measurement of the temperature dependence of the Casimir-Polder force.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0440, USA.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Obrecht
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Wild
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Antezza
authors.forename: L P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Pitaevskii
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stringari
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Cornell