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

Abstract

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