Casimir Forces and Gravitation at short range – FORCA-G

The project FORCA-G aims at studying the short range interactions between a surface and atoms trapped in its vicinity. Using cold atoms confined in the wells of an optical standing wave, the atom-surface potential will be measured with high sensitivity using atom interferometry techniques. The experiment will allow a test of gravity at short distances, which will put stringent bounds on a possible deviation from the known laws of physics, or discover new short range interactions related to gravity, as described by several models based on unification theories. FORCA-G will also allow a measurement of the Casimir Polder interaction (QED vacuum fluctuations) with unprecedented accuracy, clearing the way for promising applications in nanotechnology and micro-machining. It therefore has a major discovery potential in the domain of interplay of some of the most puzzling and fundamental phenomena of present day physics (vacuum fluctuations, gravitation and quantum physics) where the physics of the very small (quantum field theory, unification models) confronts some of the questions posed by the phenomena of the very large (gravitation, astronomy, cosmology).