Frequency up-converted radiation from a cavity moving in vacuum

We calculate the photon emission of a high finesse cavity moving in vacuum. The cavity is treated as an open system. The field initially in the vacuum state accumulates a dephasing depending on the mirrors motion when bouncing back and forth inside the cavity. The dephasing is not linearized in our calculation, so that qualitatively new effects like pulse shaping in the time domain and frequency up-conversion in the spectrum are found. Furthermore we predict the existence of a threshold above which the system should show self-sustained oscillations.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX, to appear in European Physical Journal D3, replaced version with few minor grammatical change

Quantum limits in interferometric measurements

Quantum noise limits the sensitivity of interferometric measurements. It is generally admitted that it leads to an ultimate sensitivity, the ``standard quantum limit''. Using a semi-classical analysis of quantum noise, we show that a judicious use of squeezed states allows one in principle to push the sensitivity beyond this limit. This general method could be applied to large scale interferometers designed for gravitational wave detection.Comment: 4 page

Generating photon pulses with an oscillating cavity

We study the generation of photon pulses from thermal field fluctuations through opto-mechanical coupling to a cavity with an oscillatory motion. Pulses are regularly spaced and become sharp for a high finesse cavity.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX, needs EuroPhysics Letters Stylefile, to appear in Europhysics Letter

Casimir torque between nanostructured plates

We investigate in detail the Casimir torque induced by quantum vacuum fluctuations between two nanostructured plates. Our calculations are based on the scattering approach and take into account the coupling between different modes induced by the shape of the surface which are neglected in any sort of proximity approximation or effective medium approach. We then present an experimental setup aiming at measuring this torque.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

Development of a high sensitivity torsional balance for the study of the Casimir force in the 1-10 micrometer range

We discuss a proposal to measure the Casimir force in the parallel plate configuration in the $1-10\mu$m range via a high-sensitivity torsional balance. This will allow to measure the thermal contribution to the Casimir force therefore discriminating between the various approaches discussed so far. The accurate control of the Casimir force in this range of distances is also required to improve the limits to the existence of non-Newtonian forces in the micrometer range predicted by unification models of fundamental interactions.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure