scholarly journals Improving mechanical sensor performance through larger damping

Science ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 360 (6394) ◽  
pp. eaar5220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Swapan K. Roy ◽  
Vincent T. K. Sauer ◽  
Jocelyn N. Westwood-Bachman ◽  
Anandram Venkatasubramanian ◽  
Wayne K. Hiebert

Mechanical resonances are used in a wide variety of devices, from smartphone accelerometers to computer clocks and from wireless filters to atomic force microscopes. Frequency stability, a critical performance metric, is generally assumed to be tantamount to resonance quality factor (the inverse of the linewidth and of the damping). We show that the frequency stability of resonant nanomechanical sensors can be improved by lowering the quality factor. At high bandwidths, quality-factor reduction is completely mitigated by increases in signal-to-noise ratio. At low bandwidths, notably, increased damping leads to better stability and sensor resolution, with improvement proportional to damping. We confirm the findings by demonstrating temperature resolution of 60 microkelvin at 300-hertz bandwidth. These results open the door to high-performance ultrasensitive resonators in gaseous or liquid environments, single-cell nanocalorimetry, nanoscale gas chromatography, atmospheric-pressure nanoscale mass spectrometry, and new approaches in crystal oscillator stability.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Smith ◽  
Fernando Pérez-Cota ◽  
Leonel Marques ◽  
Matt Clark

AbstractBrillouin light scattering (BLS) is an emerging method for cell imaging and characterisation. It allows elasticity-related contrast, optical resolution and label-free operation. Phonon microscopy detects BLS from laser generated coherent phonon fields to offer an attractive route for imaging since, at GHz frequencies, the phonon wavelength is sub-optical. Using phonon fields to image single cells is challenging as the signal to noise ratio and acquisition time are often poor. However, recent advances in the instrumentation have enabled imaging of fixed and living cells. This work presents the first experimental characterisation of phonon-based axial resolution provided by the response to a sharp edge. The obtained axial resolution is up to 10 times higher than that of the optical system used to take the measurements. Validation of the results are obtained with various polymer objects, which are in good agreement with those obtained using atomic force microscopy. Edge localisation, and hence profilometry, of a phantom boundary is measured with accuracy and precision of approximately 60 nm and 100 nm respectively. Finally, 3D imaging of fixed cells in culture medium is demonstrated.


Author(s):  
Kaoru Kobayashi ◽  
Yoshiaki Mori ◽  
Tsukasa Kobata ◽  
Manabu Ito ◽  
Shigenori Watanabe ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 114 (18) ◽  
pp. 183504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Spetzler ◽  
Christine Kirchhof ◽  
Jens Reermann ◽  
Phillip Durdaut ◽  
Michael Höft ◽  
...  

2011 ◽  
Vol 383-390 ◽  
pp. 471-475
Author(s):  
Yong Bin Hong ◽  
Cheng Fa Xu ◽  
Mei Guo Gao ◽  
Li Zhi Zhao

A radar signal processing system characterizing high instantaneous dynamic range and low system latency is designed based on a specifically developed signal processing platform. Instantaneous dynamic range loss is a critical problem when digital signal processing is performed on fixed-point FPGAs. In this paper, the problem is well resolved by increasing the wordlength according to signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) gain of the algorithms through the data path. The distinctive software structure featuring parallel pipelined processing and “data flow drive” reduces the system latency to one coherent processing interval (CPI), which significantly improves the maximum tracking angular velocity of the monopulse tracking radar. Additionally, some important electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM) are incorporated into this signal processing system.


Author(s):  
Xiufeng Li ◽  
Victor T C Tsang ◽  
Lei Kang ◽  
Yan Zhang ◽  
Terence T W Wong

AbstractLaser diodes (LDs) have been considered as cost-effective and compact excitation sources to overcome the requirement of costly and bulky pulsed laser sources that are commonly used in photoacoustic microscopy (PAM). However, the spatial resolution and/or imaging speed of previously reported LD-based PAM systems have not been optimized simultaneously. In this paper, we developed a high-speed and high-resolution LD-based PAM system using a continuous wave LD, operating at a pulsed mode, with a repetition rate of 30 kHz, as an excitation source. A hybrid scanning mechanism that synchronizes a one-dimensional galvanometer mirror and a two-dimensional motorized stage is applied to achieve a fast imaging capability without signal averaging due to the high signal-to-noise ratio. By optimizing the optical system, a high lateral resolution of 4.8 μm has been achieved. In vivo microvasculature imaging of a mouse ear has been demonstrated to show the high performance of our LD-based PAM system.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Berkin Uluutku ◽  
Santiago D. Solares

Abstract Quantitative measurement of the probe-sample interaction forces as a function of distance and time during imaging has been at the forefront of atomic force microscopy (AFM) research. This type of information is extremely valuable for understanding the material response to a variety of stimuli and interactions, such as mechanical deformations that vary in magnitude and rate of application, chemical interactions, or electromagnetic interactions. A variety of methods for performing such measurements simultaneously with topographical imaging is available, including methods based on Fourier analysis. Within these methods, reconstruction of the tip-sample force curve generally requires measurement of a large number of harmonics of the probe oscillation, which presents challenges such as the need for specialized hardware, low signal-to-noise ratio, and the need for extensive user expertise. In this paper, we present a simple method to perform a Gaussian-model-based fit of the tip-sample force curve across the surface, simultaneously with imaging, which requires measurement of only the first two or three harmonics for elastic materials. While such an approach only offers an approximate representation of the force curve, it can be highly accurate and fast, and has low instrumentation requirements, such that it can be relatively simple to implement on most commercial AFM setups.


1995 ◽  
Vol 413 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Shivshankar ◽  
C. Sung ◽  
J. Kumar ◽  
S. K. Tripathy ◽  
D. J. Sandman

ABSTRACTWe have studied the surface morphology of free standing single crystals of thermochromic polydiacetylenes (PDAs), namely, ETCD and IPUDO (respectively, the ethyl and isopropyl urethanes of 5,7-dodecadiyn-1,12-diol), by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) under ambient conditions. Micron scale as well as molecularly resolved images were obtained. The micron scale images indicate a variable surface, and the molecularly resolved images show a well defined 2-D lattice that is interpreted in terms of molecular models and known crystallographic data. Thereby information about surface morphology, which is crucial to potential optical device or chromic sensor performance is available. We also report the observation of a “macroscopic shattering” of the IPUDO monomer crystal during in-situ UV polymerization studies.


2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (7) ◽  
pp. 1995-1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Emaminejad ◽  
Mehdi Javanmard ◽  
Chaitanya Gupta ◽  
Shuai Chang ◽  
Ronald W. Davis ◽  
...  

The controlled immobilization of proteins on solid-state surfaces can play an important role in enhancing the sensitivity of both affinity-based biosensors and probe-free sensing platforms. Typical methods of controlling the orientation of probe proteins on a sensor surface involve surface chemistry-based techniques. Here, we present a method of tunably controlling the immobilization of proteins on a solid-state surface using electric field. We study the ability to orient molecules by immobilizing IgG molecules in microchannels while applying lateral fields. We use atomic force microscopy to both qualitatively and quantitatively study the orientation of antibodies on glass surfaces. We apply this ability for controlled orientation to enhance the performance of affinity-based assays. As a proof of concept, we use fluorescence detection to indirectly verify the modulation of the orientation of proteins bound to the surface. We studied the interaction of fluorescently tagged anti-IgG with surface immobilized IgG controlled by electric field. Our study demonstrates that the use of electric field can result in more than 100% enhancement in signal-to-noise ratio compared with normal physical adsorption.


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