We investigate the nonlinear mechanics of a bimetallic, optically absorbing SiN-Nb nanowire in the presence of incident laser light and a reflecting Si mirror. Situated in a standing wave of optical intensity and subject to photothermal forces, the nanowire undergoes self-induced oscillations at low incident light thresholds of <1 μW due to engineered strong temperature-position (T-z) coupling....

We have modeled and analyzed the performance of two types of piston-like out-of-plane motion micromechanical structures: a conventional microstructure, which has a single bimorph region, and a flip-overbimaterial (FOB) microstructure, which has two bimorph regions respectively located on the top and bottom sides of the structure. For both structures, simple analytical expressions of their end-p...

The role of the cellular microenvironment is recognized as crucial in determining cell fate and function in virtually all mammalian tissues from development to malignant transformation. In particular, interaction with neighboring stroma has been implicated in a plethora of biological phenomena; however, conventional techniques limit the ability to interrogate the spatial and dynamic elements of...

In this paper, a piezoelectrically actuated four-bar mechanism with two flexible links is proposed to be used in a micromechanical flying insect robot wing thorax for stroke amplification. PZT-5H and PZN-PT based unimorph actuators are utilized at the input link of the four-bar for a compact and light weight thorax transmission mechanism. The kinematics and dynamics of the proposed wing structu...

The ability to integrate micro-optical elements with movable structures and microactuators has opened up many new opportunities for optical and optoelectronic systemsI2. It allows us to manipulate optical beams more effectively than conventional methods, and is scalable to large optical systems. Optical MEMS (MicroElectroMechanical Systems) have applications in display, sensing, and optical dat...

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Rapidly increasing fields, such as systems biology, require the development and implementation of new technologies, enabling high-throughput and high-fidelity measurements of large systems. Microfluidics promises to fulfill many of these requirements, such as performing high-throughput screening experiments on-chip, encompassing biochemical, biophysical, and cell-based assays. Since the early d...

In this work, we provide a numerical/experimental investigation of the micromechanics-induced scattered response of a polysilicon on-chip MEMS testing device, whose moving structure is constituted by a slender cantilever supporting a massive perforated plate. The geometry of the cantilever was specifically designed to emphasize the micromechanical effects, in compliance with the process constra...

Parametric amplification, resulting from intentionally varying a parameter in a resonator at twice its resonant frequency, has been successfully employed to increase the sensitivity of many micro- and nano-scale sensors. Here, we introduce the concept of self-induced parametric amplification, which arises naturally from nonlinear elastic coupling between the degenerate vibration modes in a micr...