Mechanical spectroscopy of silicon as a low loss material for high precision mechanical and optical experiments

Schwarz, C., Heinert, D., Haughian, K. , Hofmann, G., Komma, J., Martin, I.W. , Murray, P. , Rowan, S. , Seidel, P. and Nawrodt, R. (2012) Mechanical spectroscopy of silicon as a low loss material for high precision mechanical and optical experiments. In: 16th International Conference on Internal Friction and Mechanical Spectroscopy, ICIFMS-16, Lausanne, Switzerland, 3-8 Jul 2011, pp. 443-448. (doi: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/SSP.184.443)

Abstract

The paper summarises systematic studies of the mechanical loss of crystalline silicon at low temperatures from 300 to 5 K. Thermo-elastic loss is discussed as a main contribution in thin samples. A numerical method based on a finite element analysis is presented to determine the thermo-elastic loss of arbitrarily shaped samples. Additionally, mechanical loss associated with oxygen is investigated in Czochralski grown silicon bulk samples. The process has the activation energy of about 168 meV. An orientation dependency of the loss is observed. The lowest loss reported in this paper was achieved with a cylindrical bulk sample having a diameter of 110 mm and a length of 200 mm at around 5 K and a resonant frequency of about 22.3 kHz.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Nawrodt, Dr Ronny and Rowan, Professor Sheila and Martin, Dr Iain and Haughian, Dr Karen and Murray, Dr Peter
• Authors: Schwarz, C., Heinert, D., Haughian, K., Hofmann, G., Komma, J., Martin, I.W., Murray, P., Rowan, S., Seidel, P., and Nawrodt, R.
• Subjects: Q Science > QC Physics
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
• Research Centre: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy > Institute for Gravitational Research
• Research Group: Institute for Gravitational Research
• Journal Name: Solid State Phenomena
• ISSN: 1662-9779