The Casimir force acting between two test bodies made of different metals is considered. The finiteness of the conductivity of the metals is taken into account perturbatively up to the fourth order of the relative penetration depths of electromagnetic zero-point oscillations into the metals. The influence of nonzero temperature is computed explicitly for separate orders of perturbation and found to be important in the zeroth and first orders only. The configurations of two parallel plates and a sphere (spherical lens) above a plate are considered made of Au and Cr. The obtained results can be used also to take into account the surface roughness. Thus, the total amount of the Casimir force between different metals with all correction factors is determined. This may be useful in various applications.

• Received 9 March 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.65.062109