cfaed Seminar Series

The next seminar held in the framework of the lecture series Nanoscience and Nanotechnology offered by KU Leuven, Chalmers University of Technology Göteborg, Université Grenoble Alpes and TU Dresden will take place on March 7.

Abstract:

The field of nanomechanics has been flourishing in the past couple of years. In particular the prospect of creating ultra-sensitive mass and force sensors was a major driving force. Moreover, the possibility to study fundamental aspects of (quantum) mechanical properties at the nanometer scale makes this subject very attractive and interesting. The low mass and small sizes of typical resonator devices allow for very high resonator frequencies and high quality factors. However, it was also found that nonlinear effects - like Duffing nonlinearity and nonlinear damping - play an important role for such systems. In this lecture I will introduce some of the relevant nonlinear properties, their physical origin and consequences. Additionally, recent and prospect developments in the field will be discussed.

Alexander studied physics at TU Chemnitz (Germany) and at the University of Warwick (UK), where he also got his MSc (by Research) in 2006. For his PhD he joined the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems (MPIPKS) in Dresden. There, he worked on time-dependent nano electronics. After being postdoc at MPIPKS and TU Chemnitz, Alexander joined the Condensed Matter Theory group at Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden). There the focus of his research shifted to (carbon-based) nanoelectromechanical systems. In 2014 he became Distinguished PKS Postdoctoral Fellow at the MPIPKS. In July 2016 he joined the chair of Prof. Cuniberti at TU Dresden, where he works on computational nanomechanics.