Measurement of the Casimir force between superconductors

Abstract

The Casimir force follows from quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field and yields a nonlinear attractive force between closely spaced conductive objects. Measuring the Casimir force in superconducting materials on either side of the transition should allow to isolate the specific contribution of low frequencies to the Casimir effect. There is significant interest in this contribution as it is suspected to be involved in an unexplained discrepancy between predictions and measurements of the Casimir force between normal metals. Here, we observe a force acting on a superconducting drum resonator integrated in a microwave optomechanical cavity through the nonlinear dynamics this force imparts to the resonator. The measured dynamics points to an extremely intense force found to be compatible in magnitude with the Casimir force for the range of vacuum separations that can be expected in this device, and incompatible with estimates of other known sources of nonlinearity. This nonlinearity is intense enough that, with a modified design, this device type should operate in the single-phonon nonlinear regime. Accessing this regime has been a long-standing goal that would greatly facilitate quantum operations of mechanical resonators.