In one minute

Woods, Dalvit, Tkatchenko, Rodriguez-Lopez, Rodriguez and Podgornik review van der Waals and Casimir forces, which fluctuations of the electromagnetic field create at every length scale between any finite systems. These forces matter both for the basic science of materials and for designing micro- and nano-structured devices. The review summarises major breakthroughs and stresses that the two interactions share a common origin. It covers ab initio modelling, materials with Dirac-like spectra, controlling the force through nontrivial boundary conditions, and van der Waals forces in organic and biological matter. Materials may hold the answers to several open problems in fluctuation-induced phenomena.

Materials perspective on Casimir and van der Waals interactions