Paper detail

Addressing geometric non-linearities with cantilever MEMS: beyond the Duffing model

We report on low temperature measurements performed on micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) driven deeply into the non-linear regime. The materials are kept in their elastic domain, while the observed non-linearity is purely of geometrical origin. Two techniques are used, harmonic drive and free decay. For each case, we present an analytic theory fitting the data. The harmonic drive is fit with a Lorentz-like lineshape obtained from an extended version of Landau and Lifshitz's non-linear theory. The evolution in the time domain is fit with an amplitude-dependent frequency decaying function derived from the Lindstedt-Poincar'e theory of non-linear differential equations. The technique is perfectly generic and can be straightforwardly adapted to any mechanical device made of ideally elastic constituents, and which can be reduced to a single degree of freedom, for an experimental definition of its non-linear dynamics equation.