  Modern quantum field theory has offered us a very intriguing picture of empty
space. The vacuum state is no longer an inert, motionless state. We are instead
dealing with an entity teeming with fluctuations that continuously produce
virtual particles popping in and out of existence. The dynamical Casimir effect
is a paradigmatic phenomenon, whereby these particles are converted into real
particles (photons) by changing the boundary conditions of the field. It was
predicted 50 years ago by Gerald T. Moore and it took more than 40 years until
the first experimental verification.
