The first experiment showing the effects of specific interaction forces using lateral force microscopy (LFM) was demonstrated for lectin-carbohydrate interactions some years ago. Such measurements are possible under the assumption that specific forces strongly dominate over the non-specific ones. However, obtaining quantitative results requires the complex and tedious calibration of a torsional...

The Casimir force is the attraction between uncharged metallic surfaces as a result of quantum mechanical vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field. We demonstrate the Casimir effect in microelectromechanical systems using a micromachined torsional device. Attraction between a polysilicon plate and a spherical metallic surface results in a torque that rotates the plate about two thin tor...

A number of atomic force microscopy cantilevers have been exhaustively calibrated by a number of techniques to obtain both normal and frictional force constants to evaluate the relative accuracy of the different methods. These were of either direct or indirect character-the latter relies on cantilever resonant frequencies. The so-called Sader [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 70, 3967 (1999)] and Cleveland [...

Proper force calibration is a critical step in atomic and lateral force microscopies (AFM/LFM). The recently published torsional Sader method [C. P. Green et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 75, 1988 (2004)] facilitates the calculation of torsional spring constants of rectangular AFM cantilevers by eliminating the need to obtain information or make assumptions regarding the cantilever's material propert...

The aim of this work is to develop an experimental method to measure in-plane surface properties on the nanometer scale by torsional resonance mode atomic force microscopy and to understand the underlying system dynamics. The invention of the atomic force microscope (AFM) and the advances in development of new AFM based techniques have significantly enhanced the capability to probe surface prop...

The preparation of a mechanical oscillator driven by quantum back-action is a fundamental requirement to reach the standard quantum limit (SQL) for force measurement, in optomechanical systems. However, thermal fluctuating force generally dominates a disturbance on the oscillator. In the macroscopic scale, an optical linear cavity including a suspended mirror has been used for the weak force me...

Abstract: The governing equations of motion for a drill string considering coupling between axial, lateral and torsional vibrations are obtained using a Lagrangian approach. The result leads to a set of non-linear equations with time varying coefficients. A fully coupled model for axial, lateral, and torsional vibrations of drill strings is presented. The bit/formation interactions are assumed ...

The instrumentation of high-speed imaging has been a challenge for scanning probe-based technologies. Mechanical stability of the system, surface tracking at sharp topographic transitions and prolonging tip lifetime have been the determining factors for practical applications. In this paper we report a new type of feedback control based on the torsional resonance amplitude (TRmode ) of cantilev...

The mechanical properties of DNA fundamentally constrain and enable the storage and transmission of genetic information and its use in DNA nanotechnology. Many properties of DNA depend on the ionic environment due to its highly charged backbone. In particular, both theoretical analyses and direct single-molecule experiments have shown its bending stiffness to depend on salt concentration. In co...