We study nonlinear resonance of coupled modes in nano-mechanical systems. To reveal the qualitative features of the dynamics, we consider the limiting cases, where the results can be obtained analytically. For 1:3 resonance, we find the anomalously strong and nonmonotonic dependence of the decay rate of the low frequency mode on its amplitude, if the decay rate of the high-frequency mode is comparatively large. In this case the low-frequency mode driven close to resonance can have several branches of steady-state vibrations with constant amplitude. If the decay rates of the both modes are small compared to their coupling and internal nonlinearity, the dynamics corresponds to slowly decaying strongly nonsinusoidal oscillations of the vibration amplitude. Weak driving can make these vibrations stable.
Micro- and nanomechanical systems with exceptionally low dissipation rates are enabling the next-generation technologies of ultra-sensitive detectors and quantum information systems. New techniques and methods for lowering the dissipation rate have in recent years been discovered and allowed for the engineering of mechanical oscillators with phononic modes that are extremely well isolated from the environment and thus possessing quality factors close to and beyond 1 billion. A powerful strategy for isolating and controlling a single phononic mode is based on phononic crystal engineering. Here …
State-of-the-art nanomechanical resonators are heralded as a central component for next-generation clocks, filters, resonant sensors and quantum technologies. To practically build these technologies will require monolithic integration of microchips, resonators and readout systems. While it is widely seen that mounting microchip substrates into a system can greatly impact the performance of high-Q resonators, a systematic study has remained elusive, owing to the variety of physical processes and factors that influence the dissipation. Here, we analytically analyze a mechanism by which substrate…
In the present work, we study heat transport through a one dimensional time-dependent nanomechanical system. The microscopic model consists of coupled chains of atoms, considering local and non-local interactions between particles. We show that the system presents different stationary transport regimes depending on the driving frequency, temperature gradients and the degree of locality of the interactions. In one of these regimes, the system operates as a phonon refrigerator, and its cooling performance is analyzed. Based on a low frequency approach, we show that non-locality and its interplay…
We report on measurements of dissipation and frequency noise at millikelvin temperatures of nanomechanical devices covered with aluminum. A clear excess damping is observed after switching the metallic layer from superconducting to the normal state with a magnetic field. Beyond the standard model of internal tunneling systems coupled to the phonon bath, here we consider the relaxation to the conduction electrons together with the nature of the mechanical dispersion laws for stressed/unstressed devices. With these key ingredients, a model describing the relaxation of two-level systems inside th…
Systems with low mechanical dissipation are extensively used in precision measurements such as gravitational wave detection, atomic force microscopy and quantum control of mechanical oscillators via opto- and electromechanics. The mechanical quality factor ($Q$) of these systems determines the thermomechanical force noise and the thermal decoherence rate of mechanical quantum states. While the dissipation rate is typically set by the bulk acoustic properties of the material, by exploiting dissipation dilution, mechanical $Q$ can be engineered through geometry and increased by many orders of ma…
Nanomechanics has brought mesoscopic physics into the world of vibrations. Because nanomechanical systems are small, fluctuations are significant, the vibrations become nonlinear already for comparatively small amplitudes, and new mechanisms of dissipation come into play. At the same time, the exquisite control of these systems makes them a platform for studying many problems of classical and quantum physics far from thermal equilibrium in a well-characterized setting. This review describes, at a conceptual level, basic theoretical ideas and explicative experiments pertaining to mesoscopic phy…
John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University(哈佛大学约翰·A·保尔森工程与应用科学学院);Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Syracuse University(雪城大学电气与计算机工程系);Department of Physics, Harvard University(哈佛大学物理系)