Stick-slip friction and nucleation dynamics of ultrathin liquid films

We develop a theory for stick-slip motion in ultrathin liquid films confined between two moving atomically flat surfaces. Our model is based on the hydrodynamic equation for flow coupled to the dynamic order parameter field describing the "shear melting and freezing" of the confined fluid. This model successfully accounts for the observed phenomenology of friction in ultrathin films, including periodic and chaotic sequences of slips, transitions from stick-slip motion to steady sliding, and ultrasound generation.