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Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 063201 (2007) [4 pages]

Measurement of the Temperature Dependence of the Casimir-Polder Force

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J. M. Obrecht1,*, R. J. Wild1, M. Antezza2, L. P. Pitaevskii2,3, S. Stringari2, and E. A. Cornell1,†
1JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0440, USA, and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0390, USA
2Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Trento and CNR-INFM BEC Center, Via Sommarive 14, I-38050 Povo, Trento, Italy
3Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems, ulitza Kosygina 2, 119334 Moscow, Russia

Received 1 August 2006; published 8 February 2007

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.

© 2007 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.063201
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.063201
PACS:
34.50.Dy, 03.75.Kk, 31.30.Jv, 42.50.Nn

*Electronic address: john.obrecht@colorado.edu

†Also at Quantum Physics Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO 80309-0440, USA.

 
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