Ideas at the Micron Scale: from the Casimir Effect to Fiber-Top Technology …. and Return

-Davide Iannuzzi - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

It is well known that, in the search for solutions to a technical problem encountered during an experiment in fundamental sciences, physicists often invent new technologies that go well beyond the goal for which they were invented. In this talk, I will give an example of this mutual fertilization between fundamental sciences and applied physics. I will start from describing our experiments on the Casimir effect (the attraction between metallic plates as a result of quantum fluctuations). I will then focus on one particular systematic error of those measurements, which, in 2005, led us to the invention of fiber-top technology. I will show the wide variety of applications of this technology, and finally come back to the Casimir effect to give an update of the latest results obtained by our group in this field.

Date / time: Friday 21 november 2008 , 13.15 hrs

13.00 coffee & tea

Location: Zaal 226 Huygens Laboratorium