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Ballistic dynamics of flexural thermal movements in a nano-membrane revealed with subatomic resolution

Ballistic dynamics of flexural thermal movements in a nano-membrane revealed with subatomic resolution
Ballistic dynamics of flexural thermal movements in a nano-membrane revealed with subatomic resolution

Flexural oscillations of freestanding films, nanomembranes, and nanowires are attracting growing attention for their importance to the fundamental physical and optical properties and device applications of two-dimensional and nanostructured (meta)materials. Here, we report on the observation of short–time scale ballistic motion in the flexural mode of a nanomembrane cantilever, driven by thermal fluctuation of flexural phonons, including measurements of ballistic velocities and displacements performed with subatomic resolution, using a free electron edge-scattering technique. Within intervals <10 μs, the membrane moves ballistically at a constant velocity, typically ~300 μm/s, while Brownian-like dynamics emerge for longer observation periods. Access to the ballistic regime provides verification of the equipartition theorem and Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics for flexural modes and can be used in fast thermometry and mass sensing during atomic absorption/desorption processes on the membrane.

2375-2548
Liu, Tongjun
53eb4a71-ea7b-4aa7-b96d-b70c5df1dd63
Ou, Jun-Yu
3fb703e3-b222-46d2-b4ee-75f296d9d64d
Papasimakis, Nikitas
f416bfa9-544c-4a3e-8a2d-bc1c11133a51
MacDonald, Kevin F.
76c84116-aad1-4973-b917-7ca63935dba5
Gusev, Vitalyi
d558bdf6-4e24-4f43-ac3f-b08640089022
Zheludev, Nikolai
32fb6af7-97e4-4d11-bca6-805745e40cc6
Liu, Tongjun
53eb4a71-ea7b-4aa7-b96d-b70c5df1dd63
Ou, Jun-Yu
3fb703e3-b222-46d2-b4ee-75f296d9d64d
Papasimakis, Nikitas
f416bfa9-544c-4a3e-8a2d-bc1c11133a51
MacDonald, Kevin F.
76c84116-aad1-4973-b917-7ca63935dba5
Gusev, Vitalyi
d558bdf6-4e24-4f43-ac3f-b08640089022
Zheludev, Nikolai
32fb6af7-97e4-4d11-bca6-805745e40cc6

Liu, Tongjun, Ou, Jun-Yu, Papasimakis, Nikitas, MacDonald, Kevin F., Gusev, Vitalyi and Zheludev, Nikolai (2022) Ballistic dynamics of flexural thermal movements in a nano-membrane revealed with subatomic resolution. Science Advances, 8 (33), [eabn8007]. (doi:10.1126/sciadv.abn8007).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Flexural oscillations of freestanding films, nanomembranes, and nanowires are attracting growing attention for their importance to the fundamental physical and optical properties and device applications of two-dimensional and nanostructured (meta)materials. Here, we report on the observation of short–time scale ballistic motion in the flexural mode of a nanomembrane cantilever, driven by thermal fluctuation of flexural phonons, including measurements of ballistic velocities and displacements performed with subatomic resolution, using a free electron edge-scattering technique. Within intervals <10 μs, the membrane moves ballistically at a constant velocity, typically ~300 μm/s, while Brownian-like dynamics emerge for longer observation periods. Access to the ballistic regime provides verification of the equipartition theorem and Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics for flexural modes and can be used in fast thermometry and mass sensing during atomic absorption/desorption processes on the membrane.

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Accepted/In Press date: 4 July 2022
Published date: 19 August 2022
Additional Information: Funding Information: We would like to acknowledge N. Sessions’ assistance with sample fabrication. This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK— EP/M009122/1 and EP/T02643X/1 (to N.I.Z., K.F.M., and J.-Y.O.); the Ministry of Education, Singapore—MOE2016-T3-1-006 (to N.I.Z.); and the China Scholarship Council—201806160012 (to T.L.). Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2022 The Authors, some rights reserved.

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 468278
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/468278
ISSN: 2375-2548
PURE UUID: 2a4b4c13-ebb8-4d3b-9e0d-b365f9c92c32
ORCID for Jun-Yu Ou: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8028-6130
ORCID for Nikitas Papasimakis: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-6347-6466
ORCID for Kevin F. MacDonald: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3877-2976
ORCID for Nikolai Zheludev: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-1013-6636

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Date deposited: 09 Aug 2022 16:40
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:25

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Contributors

Author: Tongjun Liu
Author: Jun-Yu Ou ORCID iD
Author: Vitalyi Gusev

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