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Full-Text Articles in Physics
Phononic Band Structure In A Mass Chain, Samantha Parmley, Tom Zobrist, Terry Clough, Anthony Perez-Miller, Mark Makela, Roger Yu
Phononic Band Structure In A Mass Chain, Samantha Parmley, Tom Zobrist, Terry Clough, Anthony Perez-Miller, Mark Makela, Roger Yu
All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences
The vibrational properties of a finite one‐dimensional string‐mass chain are studied experimentally and theoretically. In the experiment both normal mode analysis and pulse analysis are used to obtain the eigenfrequencies of the string‐mass chain. The theoretical predictions are made based upon the numerical solution to the wave equation. The phononic band structure for a periodically massed string as well as Anderson localized gap modes for a disordered system are found. The theoretical and experimental results match satisfactorily well.
Vibrational Properties Of A Loaded String, Samantha Parmley, Tom Zobrist, Terry Clough, Anthony Perez-Miller, Mark Makela
Vibrational Properties Of A Loaded String, Samantha Parmley, Tom Zobrist, Terry Clough, Anthony Perez-Miller, Mark Makela
All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences
In this paper we discuss our study of a string–mass chain and its anology to quantum mechanical systems. Theoretical predictions are made based upon the numerical solution to the wave equation. These predictions are tested experimentally using both normal mode analysis and pulse analysis. The frequency band structures for periodic and disordered string mass chains are studied as well as their corresponding eigenfunctions. The theoretical and experimental results are in accord. This experiment, suitable for advanced physics majors, demonstrates many important features of quantum mechanics: eigenvalues, superposition principle, band structure, gap modes, and Anderson localization.