We report quantitative experimental measurements of the nonlinear response of
a radiofrequency mechanical resonator, with very high quality factor, driven by
a large swept-frequency force. We directly measure the noise-free transition
dynamics between the two basins of attraction that appear in the nonlinear
regime, and find good agreement with those predicted by the one-dimensional
Duffing equation of motion. We then measure the response of the transition
rates to controlled levels of white noise, and extract the activation energy
from each basin. The measurements of the noise-induced transitions allow us to
obtain precise values for the critical frequencies, the natural resonance
frequency, and the cubic nonlinear parameter in the Duffing oscillator, with
direct applications to high sensitivity parametric sensors based on these
resonators.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure