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We report nano-scale mechanical heterogeneity of a metallic glass characterized by dynamic 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±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.

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