Revealing short-range non-Newtonian gravity through Casimir–Polder shielding

We carry out a realistic, yet simple, calculation of the Casimir–Polder interaction in the presence of a metallic shield in order to aid the design of experiments to test non-Newtonian gravity. In particular, we consider a rubidium atom near a movable silicon slab with a gold film in between. We show that by moving the slab to various distances and making precise measurements of the force exerted on the atom, one could in principle discern the …