Chaotic behaviour of a membrane resonator with nanowire array

Abstract

We report the first chaotic behavior of a membrane mechanical resonator with a nanowire (NW) array structured surface. Compared with the control sample without NW array, the membrane resonator with NW array structured surface, can easily transition from linear operation to a nonlinear motion at resonance, and further to a chaotic state, through an increase in its dynamic operating amplitude. The high nonlinearity of the device spreads the concentrated excitation energy from a single frequency to a broad-band frequency range, which could be useful for line-spectrum vibration isolation. We develop a set of possible reasons for the chaotic behavior, which aid in future investigation of controlled chaotic structures.