Nano – optomechanic: from Light Pressure to the Casimir Force

To our knowledge, we report for the first time the optical detection of periodical mechanical deformations of a macroscopic object induced by an oscillating Casimir force. A direct comparison of the periodical mechanical deformation caused by the light pressure and the Casimir force has been performed. The Casimir force is a concequence of the zero-order vacuum electromagnetic fluctuations [1] leading to attraction between two metallic plates separated by distance Z. Due to a strong dependence on Z (F ~ 1/Z4), the Casimir force manifests itself in a pronounced way at distances less than 1 µm. This means that the vacuum fluctuation modes with the characteristic periods of the order of optical wavelengths give a significant contribution into the Casimir force. For this reason the term “virtual light ” can be used for these fluctuations. They result in the attraction between the metallic plates described by the real pressure [1] is