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Casimir force on a surface with shallow nanoscale corrugations: geometry and finite conductivity effects
1Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA.
Abstract:
We measure the Casimir force between a gold sphere and a silicon plate with nanoscale, rectangular corrugations with a depth comparable to the separation between the surfaces. In the proximity force approximation (PFA), both the top and bottom surfaces of the corrugations contribute to the force, leading to a distance dependence that is distinct from a flat surface. The measured Casimir force is found to deviate from the PFA by up to 10%, in good agreement with calculations based on scattering theory that includes both geometry effects and the optical properties of the material.
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