Casimir force in micro and nano electro mechanical systems

The last 10 years have seen the emergence of micro and nano mechanical force sensors capable of measuring the Casimir interaction with great accuracy and precision. These measurements have proved fundamental to further develop the understanding of vacuum fluctuations in the presence of boundary conditions. These micromechanical sensors have also allowed to quantify the influence of materials properties, sample geometry and unwanted interactions over the measurement of the Casimir force. In this review we describe the benefits of using micro-mechanical sensors to detect the Casimir interaction, we summarize the most recent experimental results and we suggest potential optomechanical experiments that would allow measuring this force in regimes that are currently unreachable.