Nanofriction of neon films on superconducting lead

Phys Rev Lett. 2010 Jul 2;105(1):016102. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.016102. Epub 2010 Jul 2.

Abstract

With a quartz crystal microbalance technique we have studied the nanofriction of neon monolayers deposited on a lead surface at a temperature around 7 K. Unlike heavier adsorbates, Ne is found to systematically slide at such low temperatures without any evidence of pinning. The crossing of the Pb superconducting-metal transition is not accompanied by any change in dissipation, suggesting that the electronic contribution to friction is negligible for this system.