Audio / Video

What does the Golden Ratio have to do with friction? An answer atom by atom

  • 00:48:26

Description

Friction is the basic, ubiquitous mechanical interaction between two surfaces that results in resistance to motion and energy dissipation. To test long-standing atomistic models of friction processes at the nanoscale, we implemented a synthetic nanofriction interface using laser cooled ions subject to the periodic potential of an optical standing wave. We show that stick-slip friction can be tuned from maximal to nearly frictionless via arrangement of the ions relative to the periodic potential, and that friction at the nanoscale can substantially differ from the simple phenomenological laws observed at the macroscale. We also establish a direct link between Aubry’s structural transition for an infinite chain in an incommensurate periodic potential, and the vanishing of friction in nanocontacts.

Details

Title

What does the Golden Ratio have to do with friction? An answer atom by atom

Creator

University of California, Berkeley. Dept. of Physics

Published

Berkeley, CA, University of California, Berkeley, Dept. of Physics, November 30, 2015

Full Collection Name

Physics Colloquia

Type

Video

Format

Lecture.

Extent

1 streaming video file

Other Physical Details

digital, sd., col.

Archive

Physics Library

Note

Recorded at a colloquium held on November 30, 2015, sponsored by the Dept. of Physics, University of California, Berkeley.

originally produced as an .mts file in 2016

Speakers: Vuletic, Vladan.

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Collection

Physics Colloquia

Tracks

colloquia/11-30-15Vuletic.mp4 00:48:26

Linked Resources

View record in Digital Collections.