Abstract

Solid state nanomechanical systems have received increased interest in applied and fundamental science in the past fifteen years. The combination of a very low mass and physical robustness has enabled measuring and demonstrating a variety of physical phenomena to an unprecedented level of accuracy, such as quantum behaviour at the macroscopic scale [1] and single interaction [2]. In particular, low dimension carbon based nanomechanical resonators have attracted a keen interest, with spectacular sensing performances [3]. From a fundamental point of view, the unique sensitivity of these systems can be related to their relatively low number of elementary constituents, which intrinsically protects them against decoherence, since they are connected to their environment via a reduced number of dissipation channels. Concurrently, the increased sensitivity of these systems towards external driving phenomena, combined to their much reduced dimensions is responsible for a variety of noise-driven nonlinear dynamical phenomena [4], representing a major limitation to their sensing potential.

© 2017 IEEE