Change in the Casimir force between semiconductive bodies by irradiation

Two topics relevant to the Casimir force (retarded van der Waals force), which is exerted between neutral objects due to the quantum vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field are discussed- First, the enhancement of the Casimir between silicon plates by irradiation is considered. Irradiation generates free carriers inside silicon and it can cause enhancement of the Casimir force between silicon membranes. The temporal behavior of the Casimir force between two parallel silicon membranes after irradiating the surface with UV pulse laser is numerically studied. Based on the Lifshitz theory accounting for thickness of the slabs, the Casimir force as a function of time and the finite size effect of the thickness is calculated. The our experiment in progress to demonstrate the enhancement of the Casimir force by irradiation is also refer. Second, the influence of optical adsorption on the Casimir force acting between a metallic sphere and a semiconductive plate illuminated with Gaussian light beam is considered. The Casimir torque and the lateral Casimir force result form the inhomogeneous photonionization. Taking into account the spatial inhomogeneousness of the plasma frequency in the semiconductive plate, the dependence of the Casimir force on the distance between the optical axis and the center of the sphere is computed within the proximity force approximation.