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Casimir forces in quantum electrodynamics emerge between microscopic metallicobjects because of the confinement of the vacuum electromagnetic fluctuationsoccurring even at zero temperature. Their generalization at finite temperatureand in material media are referred to as Casimir--Lifshitz forces. These forcesare typically attractive, leading to the widespread problem of stiction betweenthe metallic parts of micro- and nanodevices. Recently, repulsive Casimirforces have been experimentally realized but their reliance on specializedmaterials prevents their dynamic control and thus limits their furtherapplicability. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that repulsive criticalCasimir forces, which emerge in a critical binary liquid mixture uponapproaching the critical temperature, can be used to actively controlmicroscopic and nanoscopic objects with nanometer precision. We demonstratethis by using critical Casimir forces to prevent the stiction caused by theCasimir--Lifshitz forces. We study a microscopic gold flake above a flatgold-coated substrate immersed in a critical mixture. Far from the criticaltemperature, stiction occurs because of dominant Casimir--Lifshitz forces. Uponapproaching the critical temperature, however, we observe the emergence ofrepulsive critical Casimir forces that are sufficiently strong to counteractstiction. This experimental demonstration can accelerate the development ofmicro- and nanodevices by preventing stiction as well as providing activecontrol and precise tunability of the forces acting between their constituentparts.

Tunable critical Casimir forces counteract Casimir-Lifshitz attraction