What is the Casimir effect used for ?

[Ned]

''In quantum field theory, the Casimir effect is a physical force acting on the macroscopic boundaries of a confined space which arises from the quantum fluctuations of the field. It is named after the Dutch physicist Hendrik Casimir, who predicted the effect for electromagnetic systems in 1948. ''

 

 

[Ghideon]

Title says "What is the Casimir effect used for ?". Possible answer: repulsive Casimir forces may have applications in nano-devices:

Quote

In recent years, people have devoted substantial efforts to realizing repulsive Casimir forces, especially with a view toward applications to nano-devices and colloids, which can contain nearby parts that one wants to keep separate.

(Bold by me. Source: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1805.07994.pdf)

 

Paper on repulsive Casimir forces: https://arxiv.org/abs/1202.6415