Stochastic Simulation of a Nanoscale Experiment

• Activity Number: 600
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 7, 2013 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 AM
• Sponsor: Quality and Productivity Section
• Author(s): Martin Lysy*+ and Aleks Labuda
• Companies: University of Waterloo and Asylum Research
• Keywords: Nanoscale Experiment ; Generalized Langevin Equation ; Hamiltonian Dynamics ; Stochastic Simulation

Abstract

With recent developments in nanoscopic measurement technology, researchers can now observe the properties of atoms and molecules at an individual level. However, such observations are often corrupted by complex and poorly-understood sources of noise. A natural framework for modeling this noise is the Generalized Langevin Equation (GLE). In theory, a GLE is derived from Hamiltonian dynamics. In practice, it can be obtained from an intuitive decomposition of the forces acting on the measurement device.

Here, a simple method of simulation for GLEs is presented. It is used to calibrate an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) to probe the curious behavior of water molecules in the vicinity of a solute.