CAREER: Dynamics of Micro- and Nanomechanical Resonator Arrays

摘要微机械和纳米机械谐振器可用作电信号的机械滤波器、超灵敏质量和力检测器以及机械静电计和磁力计。 随着器件尺寸缩小到越来越小，可以制造大型谐振器阵列，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，以及因此远距离子结构彼此之间的影响，对这些设备的操作至关重要。这个项目探讨了与能量传播有关的动态现象，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LDV（激光多普勒振动测量）测量动态行为。 与这些系统的研究相关的主题将被纳入本科课程，以发展一个有凝聚力的本科实验室经验，其中学生在整个四年的教育中重复接触相同的研究。该项目的总体目标是开发分析和实验工具，以了解多维周期性和近周期性微观和纳米级结构中的能量传播，并将这些工具的使用纳入研究和教育。该项目有可能导致适用于许多微米级和纳米级系统的进步，包括信号处理系统和各种传感应用。 包含微米级和纳米级机械谐振器阵列的器件对于各种领域具有重要意义，其中包括无线通信、化学和生物武器检测以及基础物理。 了解机械能在这种阵列中的传播对于开发具有更大数量、更小尺寸、更高速度和灵敏度的组件的系统至关重要。 这个项目的教育部分的目标是证明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。 在所有四年的研究中，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.