High-Frequency Nanofluidics: An Experimental Study using Nanomechanical Resonators

TL;DR

This study uses high-frequency nanomechanical resonators to experimentally investigate oscillatory fluid dynamics, revealing a transition from Newtonian to non-Newtonian flow at specific frequencies and confirming theoretical predictions of elastic fluid response.

Contribution

It introduces a novel experimental approach employing nanomechanical resonators to explore high-frequency fluid behavior and validates theoretical models of elastic fluid response.

Findings

Identified transition from Newtonian to non-Newtonian flow at ωτ≈1.

Experimental data aligns with theory predicting elastic response at high frequencies.

Demonstrated the effectiveness of nanomechanical resonators in fluid dynamics studies.

Abstract

Here we apply nanomechanical resonators to the study of oscillatory fluid dynamics. A high-resonance-frequency nanomechanical resonator generates a rapidly oscillating flow in a surrounding gaseous environment; the nature of the flow is studied through the flow-resonator interaction. Over the broad frequency and pressure range explored, we observe signs of a transition from Newtonian to non-Newtonian flow at $\omega\tau\approx 1$, where $\tau$ is a properly defined fluid relaxation time. The obtained experimental data appears to be in close quantitative agreement with a theory that predicts purely elastic fluid response as $\omega\tau\to \infty$.