Casimir-Polder potentials as entanglement probe

We have considered the interaction of a pair of spatially separated two-level atoms with the electromagnetic field in its vacuum state and we have analyzed the amount of entanglement induced between the two atoms by the nonlocal field fluctuations. This has allowed us to characterize the quantum nature of the nonlocal correlations of the electromagnetic field vacuum state as well as to link the induced quantum entanglement with Casimir-Polder potentials. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2007.