Quantifying Electric Field Gradient Fluctuations over Polymers Using Ultrasensitive Cantilevers

An ultrasensitive cantilever, oscillating parallel to a surface in vacuum, is used to probe weak thermal electric field gradient fluctuations over thin polymer films. We measure the power spectrum of cantilever frequency fluctuations as a function of cantilever height and voltage over polymers of va...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNano letters Vol. 9; no. 6; pp. 2273 - 2279
Main Authors Yazdanian, Showkat M, Hoepker, Nikolas, Kuehn, Seppe, Loring, Roger F, Marohn, John A
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Washington, DC American Chemical Society 01.06.2009
Subjects
Electrical and electronic components, instruments and techniques
Electrometers
Exact sciences and technology
Instruments, apparatus, components and techniques common to several branches of physics and astronomy
Physics
Thin films
Electric field gradients
Electrical measurement
Fluctuations
Electric field effects
Polymer films
Sensors
Polymers
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Summary:An ultrasensitive cantilever, oscillating parallel to a surface in vacuum, is used to probe weak thermal electric field gradient fluctuations over thin polymer films. We measure the power spectrum of cantilever frequency fluctuations as a function of cantilever height and voltage over polymers of various compositions and thicknesses. The data are well described by a linear-response theory that calculates stochastic electric fields arising from thermally driven dielectric fluctuations.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
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Current address: Laboratory for Living Matter, Center for Studies in Physics and Biology, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10065
ISSN:1530-6984
1530-6992
DOI:10.1021/nl9004332