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Re-examining magnetic tuning of Casimir forces

Nature Physics volume 21, pages 520–521 (2025)Cite this article

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Matters Arising to this article was published on 01 April 2025

The Original Article was published on 24 May 2024

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arising from Y. Zhang et al. Nature Physics https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-024-02521-0 (2024)

Casimir–Lifshitz forces have attracted much attention due to their relevance in controlling various phenomena1,2 and as a manifestation of quantum fluctuations3. Lifshitz and colleagues proposed a theory connecting the response function of materials to an electromagnetic field with the magnitude of these forces4. According to this theory, precise control over the permittivities of interacting materials allows both the magnitude and the sign of Casimir forces to be tuned, a phenomenon that has been experimentally demonstrated5,6. In principle, a similar tuning can be achieved by manipulating the permeabilities (μ) of the interacting materials at optical frequencies. However, this task becomes challenging when the contrast in permeability diminishes at much lower frequencies (approximately in the terahertz range)7. Zhang et al. reported the ability to tune Casimir forces using a magnetic field8. They demonstrated that the measured force between a gold sphere and a silica (SiO2) plate interacting through aqueous suspensions containing magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles underwent a reversal—shifting from attraction to repulsion at a specific separation distance—when a magnetic field was applied. However, we argue that both their theoretical framework and experimental data fail to substantiate this claim.

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Fig. 1: Analysis of the Casimir forces.

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All relevant processed data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (project no. 186747). S.H.A. acknowledges financial support from the Iran National Science Foundation (project no. 4022382) and support provided by the Condensed Matter National Laboratory at the Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM) in Tehran.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Graphene Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Mohsen Moazzami Gudarzi

  2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, School of Natural Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Mohsen Moazzami Gudarzi

  3. Condensed Matter National Laboratory, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Seyed Hamed Aboutalebi

  4. School of Quantum Physics and Matter, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Seyed Hamed Aboutalebi

Authors
  1. Mohsen Moazzami Gudarzi
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  2. Seyed Hamed Aboutalebi
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M.M.G. analysed the data. M.M.G. and S.H.A. wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mohsen Moazzami Gudarzi.

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Moazzami Gudarzi, M., Aboutalebi, S.H. Re-examining magnetic tuning of Casimir forces. Nat. Phys. 21, 520–521 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-02845-5

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