10 research outputs found
Accessing nanomechanical resonators via a fast microwave circuit
The measurement of micron-sized mechanical resonators by electrical
techniques is difficult, because of the combination of a high frequency and a
small mechanical displacement which together suppress the electromechanical
coupling. The only electromagnetic technique proven up to the range of several
hundred MHz requires the usage of heavy magnetic fields and cryogenic
conditions. Here we show how, without the need of either of them, to fully
electrically detect the vibrations of conductive nanomechanical resonators up
to the microwave regime. We use the electrically actuated vibrations to
modulate an LC tank circuit which blocks the stray capacitance, and detect the
created sideband voltage by a microwave analyzer. We show the novel technique
up to mechanical frequencies of 200 MHz. Finally, we estimate how one could
approach the quantum limit of mechanical systems
Strong gate coupling of high-Q nanomechanical resonators
The detection of mechanical vibrations near the quantum limit is a formidable
challenge since the displacement becomes vanishingly small when the number of
phonon quanta tends towards zero. An interesting setup for on-chip
nanomechanical resonators is that of coupling them to electrical microwave
cavities for detection and manipulation. Here we show how to achieve a large
cavity coupling energy of up to (2 \pi) 1 MHz/nm for metallic beam resonators
at tens of MHz. We used focused ion beam (FIB) cutting to produce uniform slits
down to 10 nm, separating patterned resonators from their gate electrodes, in
suspended aluminum films. We measured the thermomechanical vibrations down to a
temperature of 25 mK, and we obtained a low number of about twenty phonons at
the equilibrium bath temperature. The mechanical properties of Al were
excellent after FIB cutting and we recorded a quality factor of Q ~ 3 x 10^5
for a 67 MHz resonator at a temperature of 25 mK. Between 0.2K and 2K we find
that the dissipation is linearly proportional to the temperature.Comment: 6 page
Microwave amplification with nanomechanical resonators
Sensitive measurement of electrical signals is at the heart of modern science
and technology. According to quantum mechanics, any detector or amplifier is
required to add a certain amount of noise to the signal, equaling at best the
energy of quantum fluctuations. The quantum limit of added noise has nearly
been reached with superconducting devices which take advantage of
nonlinearities in Josephson junctions. Here, we introduce a new paradigm of
amplification of microwave signals with the help of a mechanical oscillator. By
relying on the radiation pressure force on a nanomechanical resonator, we
provide an experimental demonstration and an analytical description of how the
injection of microwaves induces coherent stimulated emission and signal
amplification. This scheme, based on two linear oscillators, has the advantage
of being conceptually and practically simpler than the Josephson junction
devices, and, at the same time, has a high potential to reach quantum limited
operation. With a measured signal amplification of 25 decibels and the addition
of 20 quanta of noise, we anticipate near quantum-limited mechanical microwave
amplification is feasible in various applications involving integrated
electrical circuits.Comment: Main text + supplementary information. 14 pages, 3 figures (main
text), 18 pages, 6 figures (supplementary information
Stamp transferred suspended graphene mechanical resonators for radio-frequency electrical readout
We present a simple micromanipulation technique to transfer suspended
graphene flakes onto any substrate and to assemble them with small localized
gates into mechanical resonators. The mechanical motion of the graphene is
detected using an electrical, radio-frequency (RF) reflection readout scheme
where the time-varying graphene capacitor reflects a RF carrier at f=5-6 GHz
producing modulation sidebands at f +/- fm. A mechanical resonance frequency up
to fm=178 MHz is demonstrated. We find both hardening/softening Duffing effects
on different samples, and obtain a critical amplitude of ~40 pm for the onset
of nonlinearity in graphene mechanical resonators. Measurements of the quality
factor of the mechanical resonance as a function of DC bias voltage Vdc
indicate that dissipation due to motion-induced displacement currents in
graphene electrode is important at high frequencies and large Vdc
Multimode circuit optomechanics near the quantum limit
The coupling of distinct systems underlies nearly all physical phenomena and
their applications. A basic instance is that of interacting harmonic
oscillators, which gives rise to, for example, the phonon eigenmodes in a
crystal lattice. Particularly important are the interactions in hybrid quantum
systems consisting of different kinds of degrees of freedom. These assemblies
can combine the benefits of each in future quantum technologies. Here, we
investigate a hybrid optomechanical system having three degrees of freedom,
consisting of a microwave cavity and two micromechanical beams with closely
spaced frequencies around 32 MHz and no direct interaction. We record the first
evidence of tripartite optomechanical mixing, implying that the eigenmodes are
combinations of one photonic and two phononic modes. We identify an asymmetric
dark mode having a long lifetime. Simultaneously, we operate the nearly
macroscopic mechanical modes close to the motional quantum ground state, down
to 1.8 thermal quanta, achieved by back-action cooling. These results
constitute an important advance towards engineering entangled motional states.Comment: 6+7 page
Charge Sensitivity Enhancement via Mechanical Oscillation in Suspended Carbon Nanotube Devices
Single electron transistors (SETs) fabricated from single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) can be operated as highly sensitive charge detectors reaching sensitivity levels comparable to metallic radio frequency SETs (rf-SETs). Here, we demonstrate how the charge sensitivity of the device can be improved by using the mechanical oscillations of a single-walled carbon nanotube quantum dot. To optimize the charge sensitivity dQ, we drive the mechanical resonator far into the nonlinear regime and bias it to an operating point where the mechanical third order nonlinearity is canceled out. This way we enhance dQ, from 6 mu e/(Hz)(1/2) for the static case to 0.97 mu e/(Hz)(1/2) at a probe frequency of similar to 1.3 kHz