Lateral force microscopy in low normal force limit

We have studied frictional force between SiN tip and Si surface by using lateral force microscopy. The cantilever we have used has very low stiffness of 0.006 N/m, and the normal force acting on the surface was much lower than the attractive force such as van der Waals force. In this low normal force limit, it was found that the frictional force did not depend on the normal force. We suggest a calibration method to estimate the attractive force from the lateral force data in this limit. The estimated attractive force between Si sample and SiN tip with radius of 10 nm was 0.4 nN in flat region and 0.65 nN at the corner of a rectangular hole.     

An overlooked electrostatic force that acts on a non-charged asymmetric conductor in a symmetric (parallel) electric field

Usually, when a material that has charge Q is placed in an electric field E, an electrostatic force F = QE acts on the material. This force does not act on a non-charged material. Nevertheless, when a non-charged material is placed in a convergent field, another electrostatic force acts. This force is called the gradient force. If the material is small and the shape is a sphere, the gradient force can be calculated by an approximate formula, but it cannot be calculated for other shapes. In this paper the gradient force that acts on a symmetric rod conductor in a convergent (asymmetric) field was simulated by an axis symmetry finite difference method.Under same simulation conditions without the next two points, the shape of the conductor and the form of the field were reversed. The shape of the conductor was changed into an asymmetric shape (e.g. bat shape), and the form of the field was changed into a symmetric (parallel) one. The electrostatic force that acts on the asymmetric conductor in the symmetric (parallel) field was simulated. It was found that approximately the same intensity force as in the first simulation also acts on this conductor. This force is thought to be an overlooked electrostatic force. I provisionally call it the asymmetric force in this paper.The asymmetric force with differently shaped conductors was simulated and it was found that the asymmetric force was maximized for a cup shaped conductor.Finally, the asymmetric force with the cup shaped conductor in normal and reversed parallel (symmetric) fields was simulated, and it was confirmed that the asymmetric force remains the same in both fields.     

Structural modal excitation using travelling impulses—force frequency shifting

A review of existing hardware and methods for vibration testing of large structures is given by Koss and has shown that the size of inertial vibration shakers, to achieve a specific displacement, has to increase, as a structure becomes larger. In previous papers the concept of “force frequency shifting (ffs) for structural excitation”, was introduced to develop a more compact structural vibration exciter than is presently available for low frequencies. An ffs shaker operates at a frequency much greater than the natural frequency of the structure under test but generates a modal force at the lower frequency of the structure. This effect is accomplished by moving a vibrating force back and forth across the structure while the force is applied normally to its surface. For example, the generalized force generated by an ffs shaker at the fundamental structural frequency for a simply supported beam is given by 1.65Pr/l where P is the high frequency out of balance force, r is the throw amplitude and l is the beam length. The term that reduces the efficiency of force transfer from high to low frequencies is “r/l” as, usually, the length of a structure is much greater than the throw of the force. This paper introduces another force frequency shifting approach that allows r/l to be large. This is accomplished by placing force exciters along a structure-spatial array, spaced a distance ΔX apart, and each force exciter is activated for a short period of time to simulate a travelling force traversing the structure forwards and backwards. The “force throw r “can thus be made large. Results of simulations and experiments verify that force frequency shifting can be accomplished using travelling impulses and modal identification can be achieved.     

Multifrequency radiation force of acoustic waves in fluids

In this article we introduce the concept of multifrequency radiation force produced by a polychromatic acoustic beam propagating in a fluid. This force is a generalization of dynamic radiation force due to a bichromatic wave. We analyse the force exerted on a rigid sphere by a plane wave with N frequency components. Our approach is based on solving the related scattering problem, taking into account the nonlinearity of the fluid. The radiation force is calculated by integrating the excess of pressure in the quasilinear approximation over the surface of the sphere. Results reveal that the spectrum of the multifrequency radiation force is composed of up to N(N−1)/2 distinct frequency components. In addition, the radiation force generated by plane progressive waves is predominantly caused by parametric amplification. This is a phenomenon due to the nonlinear nature of wave propagation in fluids.     

Using an atomic force microscope in the surface modification regime to determine the migration energy of surface defects

The lines of constant force and the profiles of the horizontal force component are calculated for the scanning of the tip of an atomic force microscope over a surface vacancy in a closepacked lattice with allowance for atomic displacements. The character of the lines of force is studied in all three scanning regimes that arise for different values of the force: without modification of the surface by the tip, migration of a single vacancy by a single interatomic distance in the direction opposite to the motion of the tip, and “dragging” of a vacancy by the tip. It is shown that the profiles of the horizontal force component can be used to calculate the activation energy for surface migration of a vacancy. An estimate is made of the scanning force for which these effects may be observed experimentally. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 69, 104–110 (August 1999)     

Finite-temperature Casimir effect in piston geometry and its classical limit

We consider the Casimir force acting on a d-dimensional rectangular piston due to a massless scalar field with periodic, Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions and an electromagnetic field with perfect electric-conductor and perfect magnetic-conductor boundary conditions. The Casimir energy in a rectangular cavity is derived using the cut-off method. It is shown that the divergent part of the Casimir energy does not contribute to the Casimir force acting on the piston, thus renders an unambiguously defined Casimir force acting on the piston. At any temperature, it is found that the Casimir force acting on the piston increases from −∞ to 0 when the separation a between the piston and the opposite wall increases from 0 to ∞. This implies that the Casimir force is always an attractive force pulling the piston towards the closer wall, and the magnitude of the force gets larger as the separation a gets smaller. Explicit exact expressions for the Casimir force for small and large plate separations and for low and high temperatures are computed. The limits of the Casimir force acting on the piston when some pairs of transversal plates are large are also derived. An interesting result regarding the influence of temperature is that in contrast to the conventional result that the leading term of the Casimir force acting on a wall of a rectangular cavity at high temperature is the Stefan–Boltzmann (or black-body radiation) term which is of order T ^d+1, it is found that the contributions of this term from the two regions separating the piston cancel with each other in the case of piston. The high-temperature leading-order term of the Casimir force acting on the piston is of order T, which shows that the Casimir force has a nontrivial classical ℏ→0 limit. Explicit formulas for the classical limit are computed.     

Force law in material media,hidden momentum and quantum phases

We address to the force law in classical electrodynamics of material media, paying attention on the force term due to time variation of hidden momentum of magnetic dipoles. We highlight that the emergence of this force component is required by the general theorem, deriving zero total momentum for any static configuration of charges/currents. At the same time, we disclose the impossibility to add this force term covariantly to the Lorentz force law in material media. We further show that the adoption of the Einstein–Laub force law does not resolve the issue, because for a small electric/magnetic dipole, the density of Einstein–Laub force integrates exactly to the same equation, like the Lorentz force with the inclusion of hidden momentum contribution. Thus, none of the available expressions for the force on a moving dipole is compatible with the relativistic transformation of force, and we support this statement with a number of particular examples. In this respect, we suggest applying the Lagrangian approach to the derivation of the force law in a magnetized/polarized medium. In the framework of this approach we obtain the novel expression for the force on a small electric/magnetic dipole, with the novel expression for its generalized momentum. The latter expression implies two novel quantum effects with non-topological phases, when an electric dipole is moving in an electric field, and when a magnetic dipole is moving in a magnetic field. These phases, in general, are not related to dynamical effects, because they are not equal to zero, when the classical force on a dipole is vanishing. The implications of the obtained results are discussed.     

Casimir friction force between a SiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> probe and a graphene-coated SiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> substrate

The possibility of mechanical detection of Casimir friction with the use of a noncontact atomic force microscope is discussed. A SiO₂ probe tip located above a graphene-coated SiO₂ substrate is subjected to the frictional force caused by a fluctuating electromagnetic field produced by a current in graphene. This frictional force will create the bend of a cantilever, which can be measured by a modern noncontact atomic force microscope. Both the quantum and thermal contributions to the Casimir frictional force can be measured using this experimental setup. This result can also be used to mechanically detect Casimir friction in micro- and nanoelectromechanical systems.     

Determining the optimal pre-tightening force of a sandwich transducer by measuring resonance resistance

The pre-tightening force applied on a sandwich transducer plays a key role on the transducer’s vibration performance. Typically, a transducer’s optimal pre-tightening force is not known during assembly. The objective of this study is to examine a method for determining the optimal pre-tightening force for a sandwich transducer. We propose that the transducer’s optimal pre-tightening force can be measured indirectly through the resonance resistance. Resonance resistance is an equivalent electric parameter which reflects the transducer’s mechanical energy loss, and can be measured easily using an impedance analyzer. The relationship between resonance resistance and the pre-tightening force is analyzed both theoretically and experimentally. Measurement of resonance resistance based on transducer’s admittance circle is studied. Experiments involving this relationship are conducted. Results indicate that the front-end surface amplitude of the sandwich transducer reaches a maximum when the pre-tightening force is optimal, the resonance resistance tends to a minimum, but with a small offset. This indicates that the minimum value of resonance resistance corresponds closely to the highest vibration amplitude of the transducer, but not exactly. Thus, by determining the minimum resonance resistance, the optimal pre-tightening force can be determined.     

Force field calculations of acetonitrile using CNDO/force method

The redundancy-free internal valence force field (RFIVFF) of acetonitrile is reported using CNDO/force method. The initial force field is set up by taking the interaction and bending force constants from CNDO force field and transferring stretching force constants from the force fields of chemically related molecules. The final force field is obtained by refining the initial force field using vibrational harmonic frequencies of CH₃CN,¹³CH₃CN, CH₃ ¹³CN, CH₃C¹⁵N, CD₃CN and CD₃ ¹³CN. The final force field thus obtained is found to be excellent on the basis of frequency fit and potential energy distribution.     

Repulsive Casimir–Polder forces from cosmic strings

We investigate the Casimir–Polder force acting on a polarizable microparticle in the geometry of a straight cosmic string. In order to develop this analysis we evaluate the electromagnetic field Green tensor on the imaginary frequency axis. The expression for the Casimir–Polder force is derived in the general case of anisotropic polarizability. In dependence on the eigenvalues for the polarizability tensor and of the orientation of its principal axes, the Casimir–Polder force can be either repulsive or attractive. Moreover, there are situations where the force changes the sign with separation. We show that for an isotropic polarizability tensor the force is always repulsive. At large separations between the microparticle and the string, the force varies inversely with the fifth power of the distance. In the non-retarded regime, corresponding to separations smaller than the relevant transition wavelengths, the force decays with the inverse fourth power of the distance. In the case of anisotropic polarizability, the dependence of the Casimir–Polder potential on the orientation of the polarizability tensor principal axes also leads to a moment of force acting on the particle.     

Three-dimensional Casimir piston for massive scalar fields

We consider Casimir force acting on a three-dimensional rectangular piston due to a massive scalar field subject to periodic, Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions. Exponential cut-off method is used to derive the Casimir energy. It is shown that the divergent terms do not contribute to the Casimir force acting on the piston, thus render a finite well-defined Casimir force acting on the piston. Explicit expressions for the total Casimir force acting on the piston is derived, which show that the Casimir force is always attractive for all the different boundary conditions considered. As a function of a - the distance from the piston to the opposite wall, it is found that the magnitude of the Casimir force behaves like 1/a⁴ when a→0⁺ and decays exponentially when a→∞. Moreover, the magnitude of the Casimir force is always a decreasing function of a. On the other hand, passing from massless to massive, we find that the effect of the mass is insignificant when a is small, but the magnitude of the force is decreased for large a in the massive case.     

The role of the “Casimir force analogue” at the microscopic processes of crystallization and melting

Melting (crystallization), a phase transition from a crystalline solid to a liquid state, is a common phenomenon in nature. We suggest a new factor, “the Casimir force analogue”, to describe mechanisms of melting and crystallization. The Casimir force analogue is a force occurring between the surfaces of solid and liquid phases of metals caused by different energy density of phonons of these phases. It explains abrupt changes in geometry and thermodynamic parameters at a melting point. “The Casimir force analogue” helps to estimate latent melting heat and to gain an insight into a solid–liquid transition problem.     

Radiation force exerted on nanometer size non-resonant Kerr particle by a tightly focused Gaussian beam

We calculate the radiation force that is exerted by a focused continuous-wave Gaussian beam of wavelength λ on a non-absorbing nonlinear particle of radius a ? 50λ/π. The refractive index of the mechanically-rigid particle is proportional to the incident intensity according to the electro-optic Kerr effect. The force consists of two components representing the contributions of the electromagnetic field gradient and the light scattered by the Kerr particle. The focused intensity distribution is determined using expressions for the six electromagnetic components that are corrected to the fifth order in the numerical aperture (NA) of the focusing objective lens. We found that for particles with a < λ/21.28, the trapping force is dominated by the gradient force and the axial trapping force is symmetric about the geometrical focus. The two contributions are comparable with larger particles and the axial trapping force becomes asymmetric with its zero location displaced away from the focus and towards the beam propagation direction. We study the trapping force behavior versus incident beam power, NA, λ, and relative refractive index between the surrounding liquid and the particle. We also examine the confinement of a Kerr particle that exhibits Brownian motion in a focused beam. Numerical results show that the Kerr effect increases the trapping force strength and significantly improves the confinement of Brownian particles.     

An Improved Anharmonic Force Field of Difluoromethanimine, F2C NH

The anharmonic force field of difluoromethanimine, F₂C NH, has been reinvestigated theoretically using a coupled-cluster singles and doubles approach, augmented for structural optimization and harmonic force field by a contribution of connected triple excitations, CCSD(T). The cubic and quartic force constants have been obtained by numerical derivatives computed from analytical quadratic force constants calculated by second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory, MP2. The quadratic force constants and the equilibrium structure of F₂C NH have then been scaled by a global least-squares fitting procedure to the spectroscopic data and parameters experimentally determined for this molecule. This force field, obtained in the internal coordinates space and therefore valid for all isotopomers of difluoromethanimine, yields a complete set of spectroscopic molecular constants providing a critical assessment of the experimental rotational and centrifugal distortion constants, fundamentals, overtones, and combination bands determined so far for F₂C NH. In addition, the final force field can be used to make predictions of all important vibrational and rotational parameters which should be accurate and useful for new spectroscopic investigations.     

Magnetically-driven heat transport device using a binary temperature-sensitive magnetic fluid

The magnetic body force in boiling two-phase temperature-sensitive magnetic fluid (TSMF) flow is known to effectively increase the driving force of magnetic fluid in a non-uniform magnetic field. Based on this mechanism, in the present study, a binary TSMF, which is a mixture of the TSMF and a low-boiling-saturation-temperature organic solution, is proposed to be used in a heat transport device to enhance its circulation. In order to see its performance in the heat transport device, the pressure difference at different heated temperatures, magnetic fields and inclination angles of the heating section are investigated experimentally and theoretically. Results showed that the driving force increases remarkably due to more gas phase appearing in the test fluid and the magnetization of it decreasing. At low magnetic field the driving force is enhanced greatly when the inclination angle is close to 60°, while at high magnetic field the driving force is remarkably enhanced due to the effect of the magnetic force in the inclination angle range from 0° to 30° and 60° to 90°.     

Magnetic force microscopy signal of flux line above a semi-infinite type II-superconductor

We have examined a single flux line in the semi-infinite type-II superconductor. The stray magnetic field of the flux line has been calculated. We have found that the vertical force exerted on a magnetic force microscopy (MFM) tip from the flux line is measurable by currently existing MFM. Two types of magnetic tips were taken into consideration, solid and thin film tips. For example, with a Cobalt film of the thickness of 100 nm and 30 nm on a tip, we found a vertical force of 4*10^–10 N and 1.5*10^–10 N, respectively. The lateral force exerted on a tip by the flux line was also calculated. The lateral force must be small enough to prevent the flux line from becoming depinned.     

A boundary condition capturing immersed interface method for 3D rigid objects in a flow

To simulate the flow around an object, we can replace the object with the fluid enclosed by a singular force. We can then simulate the flow on a fixed domain with a fluid–fluid interface supporting the singular force. In this paper, we present a boundary condition capturing approach to determine the singular force for a 3D rigid object. We apply a discontinuous body force to enforce the rigid motion of the fluid replacing the object and compute the singular force based on the kinematics of the object. Due to the singular force and the body force, the flow is not smooth across the interface. We solve the flow using the immersed interface method. Our boundary condition capturing immersed interface method is very efficient and stable, and its accuracy based on the infinity norm is near second order for the velocity and above first order for the pressure.     

Formic acid anhydride: Matrix infrared spectra of five isotopic species,vibrational analysis,empirical and ab initio harmonic force field and thermodynamic functions

Argon matrix infrared spectra of formic acid anhydride (CHOOCHO, CDOOCHO, CDOOCDO, and CH¹⁸O¹⁸OCH¹⁸O) are presented. Assignments and normal coordinate analysis yield valence force constants (VFF I) reflecting a significant dependence on the conformation of the formyl groups. A similar dependence is borne out by force constants obtained from an ab initio SCF treatment. The quantum chemical force constants qualitatively confirm Badger's rule. It is shown that a second valence force field (VFF II) may be found which is in qualitative agreement with the quantum chemical force constants and also reproduces the observed frequencies just as well as VFF I. The stretching force constants appear to be enhanced for bonds which are trans to another bond.