Intrinsic Localized Modes and Nonlinear Normal Modes in Micro-Resonator Arrays
In the solid-state physics literature, nonlinear phenomena such as localizations have been studied for a number of decades in lattice structures. These localizations, which occur in periodic and strongly nonlinear discrete systems, have been found to result from a combination of the discreteness and the strong nonlinearity rather than the defects or impurities in the system. Intrinsic Localized Modes (ILMs), which are defined as spatial localization due to strong nonlinearity within arrays of oscillators, have been studied recently in the context of coupled micro-scale cantilevers. Within this paper, the hypothesis that an intrinsic localized mode may be realized as a nonlinear normal mode is explored in order to gain a better understanding of this nonlinear phenomenon. It is believed that an understanding of this phenomenon would be valuable for the design of piezoelectric micro-scale resonator arrays that are being developed for signal processing, communication, and sensor applications.