Casimir-Polder induced Rabi oscillations
  We show that the Casimir-Polder interaction may induce coherent oscillations between degenerate atomic states. We illustrate this effect by computing the Casimir-Polder induced Rabi frequency on a $^{87}$Rb atom as it interacts with a reflecting surface. The atom oscillates between two Zeeman sublevels of its ground state undergoing a periodic exchange of angular momentum with the vacuum photons. 
M. Donaire, M.-P. Gorza, A. Maury, R. Guerout and A. Lambrecht
quant-ph