CAREER: Dynamics of Micro- and Nanomechanical Resonator Arrays

Catholic University Of America, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

Abstract Micromechanical and nanomechanical resonators are finding use as mechanical filters for electrical signals, ultra-sensitive mass and force detectors, and mechanical electrometers and magnetometers. As devices are scaled down to ever-smaller sizes, it becomes possible to fabricate large arrays of such resonators, leveraging the coherent behavior of the entire system to improve sensitivity, accomplish more complex signal processing tasks, and study fundamental physics. The extent to which vibration propagates across such arrays, and thus the effect distant substructures have on one another, is critical to the operation of these devices. This project explores dynamic phenomena related to energy propagation, including vibration localization due to small variations among nominally identical resonators. Guided by analytical study and numerical simulation, prototype arrays will be designed and fabricated to experimentally demonstrate the phenomena studied and the utility of micro/nanoarrays for various applications, with measurement of the dynamic behavior accomplished by micro-LDV (laser Doppler vibrometry). Topics related to the study of these systems will be incorporated into the undergraduate curriculum in order to develop a cohesive undergraduate laboratory experience, in which students have repeated exposure to the same research throughout all four years of education. The overall goal of the project is to develop the analytic and experimental tools to understand energy propagation in multidimensional periodic and near-periodic micro and nanoscale structures and incorporate the use of these tools into both research and education. This project has the potential to lead to advances applicable to many microscale and nanoscale systems, including systems for signal processing and a variety of sensing applications. Devices incorporating arrays of microscale and nanoscale mechanical resonators have significance for a variety of fields, among them wireless communications, chemical and biological weapon detection, and fundamental physics. Understanding the propagation of mechanical energy in such arrays is vital to developing systems with ever-larger numbers of components of ever-smaller size and greater speed and sensitivity. The goal of the educational component of this project is to demonstrate the benefits of examining one or a few engineering applications repeatedly throughout the undergraduate curriculum. Integration of experimental research on dynamics of micromechanical and nanomechanical systems into laboratory experiences in all four years of study will serve as a case study of this concept, allowing students to connect concepts learned in a variety of courses with each other in the context of a state-of-the-art field of engineering research.