Nonlinear damping in mechanical resonators made from carbon nanotubes and graphene

2011/03/09 by Alexander Eichler, A. Eichler, J. Moser +8 · 11 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Carbon Nanotubes in Composites #Carbon fibers #Carbon nanotube #Composite material #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Graphene #Materials science #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Nanomechanics #Nanotechnology #Nonlinear system #Optoelectronics #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Resonator #cond-mat.mes-hall

paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/nnano.2011.71

published as Nature Nanotech. 6, 339 (2011) · main text with 4 figures, supplementary information

arxiv created 2011/03/09 · openalex publication_date 2011/05/15 · arxiv updated 2015/05/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes and graphene allow fabricating outstanding nanomechanical resonators. They hold promise for various scientific and technological applications, including sensing of mass, force, and charge, as well as the study of quantum phenomena at the mesoscopic scale. Here, we have discovered that the dynamics of nanotube and graphene resonators is in fact highly exotic. We propose an unprecedented scenario where mechanical dissipation is entirely determined by nonlinear damping. As a striking consequence, the quality factor Q strongly depends on the amplitude of the motion. This scenario is radically different from that of other resonators, whose dissipation is dominated by a linear damping term. We believe that the difference stems from the reduced dimensionality of carbon nanotubes and graphene. Besides, we exploit the nonlinear nature of the damping to improve the figure of merit of nanotube/graphene resonators.

Citations

• Cavity Optomechanics: Back-Action at the Mesoscale
• Ultrahigh electron mobility in suspended graphene
• A tunable carbon nanotube electromechanical oscillator
• Electric Field Effect in Atomically Thin Carbon Films
• Two-dimensional atomic crystals

Cited by

• Electro-mechanical control of an optical emitter using graphene
• Nonlinear nanomechanical resonators for quantum optoelectromechanics
• Selective coherent phonon-mode generation in single-wall carbon nanotubes
• Self-Sustained Micromechanical Oscillator with Linear Feedback
• Renormalization approach to non-Markovian open-quantum-system dynamics
• Frequency modulated self-oscillation and phase inertia in a synchronized nanowire mechanical resonator
• Gauge fields in graphene with nonuniform elastic deformations: A quantum field theory approach
• Atomic quadrature squeezing and quantum state transfer in a hybrid atom–optomechanical cavity with two Duffing mechanical oscillators
• Diffusion-induced dissipation and mode coupling in nanomechanical resonators
• Measurement-based cooling of a nonlinear mechanical resonator
• Models of wave-function collapse, underlying theories, and experimental tests

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• Carbon nanotubes: Nonlinear high-Q resonators with strong coupling to single-electron tunneling
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• Characterizing multi-mode nonlinear dynamics of nanomechanical resonators