Mass sensing based on deterministic and stochastic responses of elastically coupled nanocantilevers

Coupled nanomechanical systems and their entangled eigenstates offer unique opportunities for the detection of ultrasmall masses. In this paper we show theoretically and experimentally that the stochastic and deterministic responses of a pair of coupled nanocantilevers provide different and complementary information about the added mass of an analyte and its location. This method allows the sensitive detection of minute quantities of mass even in the presence of large initial differences in the active masses of the two cantilevers. Finally, we show the fundamental limits in mass detection of this sensing paradigm. © 2009 American Chemical Society.D.R. acknowledges the fellowship funded by the Autonomous Community of Madrid (CAM). E.G.-S. acknowledges fellowship funded by C.S.I.C. J.T. and M.C. acknowledge financial support by Spanish Ministry of Science under Grant Nos. TEC2006-10316 and CSD 2007-00010, CSIC-200650F0091, and Autonomous Community of Madrid under Contract S-0505/MAT-0283.Peer Reviewe