CAREER: Dynamics of Micro- and Nanomechanical Resonator Arrays

微机械和纳米机械谐振器被用作电信号的机械过滤器、超灵敏的质量和力探测器、机械静电计和磁力计。随着器件尺寸缩小到越来越小，制造大型谐振器阵列成为可能，利用整个系统的相干行为来提高灵敏度，完成更复杂的信号处理任务，并研究基础物理。振动在这种阵列上传播的程度，以及远距离子结构对彼此的影响，对这些设备的运行至关重要。该项目探讨了与能量传播相关的动态现象，包括由于名义上相同的谐振器之间的微小变化而导致的振动局部化。在分析研究和数值模拟的指导下，原型阵列将被设计和制造，以实验证明所研究的现象和微/纳米阵列在各种应用中的实用性，并通过微激光多普勒振动测量完成动态行为的测量。与这些系统研究相关的主题将被纳入本科课程，以培养一个有凝聚力的本科实验室经验，学生在四年的教育中反复接触相同的研究。该项目的总体目标是开发分析和实验工具，以了解多维周期和近周期微纳米结构中的能量传播，并将这些工具应用于研究和教育中。该项目有可能导致适用于许多微尺度和纳米尺度系统的进步，包括信号处理系统和各种传感应用。包含微尺度和纳米尺度机械谐振器阵列的器件在无线通信、化学和生物武器探测以及基础物理等多个领域具有重要意义。了解机械能在这种阵列中的传播对于开发具有越来越多的组件，越来越小的尺寸和更高的速度和灵敏度的系统至关重要。这个项目的教育部分的目标是展示在整个本科课程中反复检查一个或几个工程应用程序的好处。在所有四年的学习中，将微机械和纳米机械系统动力学的实验研究整合到实验室经验中，将作为这一概念的案例研究，使学生能够在最先进的工程研究领域的背景下，将各种课程中学到的概念相互联系起来。

AbstractMicromechanical 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.