The Casimir effect is a well-known macroscopic consequence of quantum vacuum
fluctuations, but whereas the static effect (Casimir force) has long been
observed experimentally, the dynamic Casimir effect is up to now undetected.
From an experimental viewpoint a possible detection would imply the vibration
of a mirror at gigahertz frequencies. Mechanical motions at such frequencies
turn out to be technically unfeasible. Here we present a different experimental
scheme where mechanical motions are avoided, and the results of laboratory
tests showing that the scheme is practically feasible. We think that at present
this approach gives the only possibility of detecting this phenomenon.Comment: Submitted to the Physical Review Letters. RevTeX. 4 pages, 2 figure
