Probing Nanofriction and Aubry-type signatures in a finite self-organized system

TL;DR

This paper investigates nanofriction in a controllable ion-based system, revealing Aubry-type transition signatures and critical scaling, bridging classical and quantum regimes.

Contribution

It introduces a model system of laser-cooled ions to study nanofriction and Aubry transition signatures with atomic resolution, including spectroscopic detection and critical behavior analysis.

Findings

Observation of a transition from sticking to sliding with Aubry signatures

Spectroscopic measurement of the soft vibrational mode at the transition

Numerical evidence of critical scaling near the transition point

Abstract

Friction in ordered atomistic layers plays a central role in various nanoscale systems ranging from nanomachines to biological systems. It governs transport properties, wear and dissipation. Defects and incommensurate lattice constants dramatically change these properties. Recently experimental systems have become accessible to probe the dynamics of nanofriction. Here, we present a model system consisting of laser-cooled ions in which nanofriction and transport processes in self-organized systems with back action can be studied with atomic resolution. We show that in a system with local defects resulting in incommensurate layers, there is a transition from sticking to sliding with Aubry-type signatures. We demonstrate spectroscopic measurements of the soft vibrational mode driving this transition and a measurement of the order parameter. We show numerically that both exhibit critical scaling near the transition point. Our studies demonstrate a simple, well-controlled system in which friction in self-organized structures can be studied from classical- to quantum-regimes.