Sensitive measurement of forces at micron scale using Bloch oscillations   of ultracold atoms
  We show that Bloch oscillations of ultracold fermionic atoms in the periodic potential of an optical lattice can be used for a sensitive measurement of forces at the micrometer length scale, e.g. in the vicinity of dielectric surface. In particular, the proposed approach allows to perform a local and direct measurement of the Casimir-Polder force which is, for realistic experimental parameters, as large as 10^-4 gravity. 
Iacopo Carusotto, Lev Pitaevskii, Sandro Stringari, Giovanni Modugno,   Massimo Inguscio