Mechanical dissipation in silicon flexures

The thermo-mechanical properties of silicon make it of significant interest as a possible material for mirror substrates and suspension elements for future long-baseline gravitational wave detectors. The mechanical dissipation in 92 μm thick 〈110〉〈110〉 single-crystal silicon cantilevers has been observed over the temperature range 85 K to 300 K, with dissipation approaching levels down to ϕ=4.4×10−7ϕ=4.4×10−7.