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Depinning of atomically thin Kr films on gold
L Bruschi1, A Carlin, G Mistura
1Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia and Dipartimento di fisica G.Galilei, Università di Padova, via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy.
Physical Review Letters
|January 22, 2002
Abstract:
We have employed the quartz-crystal microbalance technique to measure the sliding friction of krypton films physisorbed on gold. By slowly increasing the amplitude of the substrate oscillations, we have observed a sharp transition from a film locked to the substrate to a sliding one. This transition is characterized by hysteresis both in dissipation and inertial mass as the amplitude is decreased. Finally, the dependence of this transition on film coverage has been studied in some detail.