---
abstract: 'The Casimir effect is a force arising in the macroscopic world as a result of radiation pressure of vacuum fluctuations. It thus plays a key role in the emerging domain of nano-electro-mechanical systems (NEMS). This role is reviewed in the present paper, with discussions of the influence of the material properties of the mirrors, as well as the geometry dependence of the Casimir effect between corrugated mirrors. In particular, the lateral component of the Casimir force and restoring torque between metal plates with misaligned corrugations are evaluated.'
author:
- 'Cyriaque Genet$^1$, Astrid Lambrecht$^2$, and Serge Reynaud$^2$'
title: The Casimir effect in the nanoworld
---

Introduction {#intro}
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The Casimir force was predicted in $1948$ by H.B.G. Casimir as an attractive force between two perfectly reflecting, plane and parallel mirrors in vacuum [@Casimir48]. The force has been measured in different experiments with an increasing control of the experimental conditions . This has been considered as an important aim which should allow an accurate comparison between theoretical predictions and experimental observations [@Milonni94; @LamoreauxResource99; @Reynaud01; @GenetIAP02; @LambrechtPoincare]. These advances have been reviewed in a number of papers, for example [@LambrechtPoincare; @Bordag01; @Milton05] and in a special issue of the New Journal 