Physics and Application of Nonlinear Micro/Nanomechanical Resonators

Abstract

The fundamental study on tiny mechanical resonators fabricated by state of the art micro and nanofabrication technology is now extensively developed. The advantage to fabricate such small structures is to obtain high frequency resonators. The frequency of mechanical resonance is now over GHz, whose energy quantum corresponds to the thermal energy higher than the base temperature of dilution refrigerator. The tiny mechanical resonators are therefore expected to be experimental testbeds for macroscopic quantum systems. The other important properties are externally controllable nonlinearity. In doubly suspended structures, the internally or externally applied tension can change the resonance frequency and mode function. Beam-splitter-type and parametric amplification interaction can be introduced in the multimode mechanical systems and several demonstration such like coherent control, phonon lasing operation, and 2 mode noise squeezing can be demonstrated. In this article, I review these recent advances reported using the micro and nanomechanical systems.