We study the van der Waals-London force, which is typically associated with fluctuating electric dipoles in atoms, in a mesoscopic circuit consisting of two inductively coupled superconducting loops. We investigate the inductive van der Waals-London interaction using both semiclassical and quantum electrodynamic (QED) approaches. The semiclassical model predicts a repulsive interaction due to anticorrelated current fluctuations. In contrast, the QED framework, which incorporates virtual photon exchange, reveals a predominantly attractive force. A key contribution comes from a state-independent two-photon exchange, which is absent in the semiclassical description and undetectable by spectroscopy. Our study introduces a theoretical framework for exploring the van der Waals force between individual artificial atoms via controlled mesoscopic circuits.

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• Quantum electrodynamics
• Quantum optics with artificial atoms
• van der Waals interaction
• Superconducting qubits