Characterization of nanoscale mechanical heterogeneity in a metallic   glass by dynamic force microscopy
  We report nano-scale mechanical heterogeneity of a metallic glass characterized by dynamic atomic force microscopy. Apparent energy dissipation with the variation of ~12%, originating from non-uniform distribution of local viscoelasticity, was characterized. The correlation length of heterogeneous viscoelasticity was measured to be ~2.5{\pm}0.3 nm, which is well consistent with the dimension of shear transformation zones for plastic flow. This study provides the first experimental observation on the nano-scale mechanical heterogeneity in a metallic glass, and may fill the gap between atomic models and the macroscopic properties of metallic glasses. 
Y.H. Liu, D. Wang, K. Nakajima, W. Zhang, A. Hirata, T. Nishi, A.   Inoue and M.W. Chen
cond-mat.dis-nn cond-mat.mtrl-sci