Nonlinear nanomechanical oscillators for ultrasensitive inertial detection
AssigneeUT-Battelle, LLC
InventorsPanagiotis George Datskos, Nickolay V. Lavrik
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Abstract
A system for ultrasensitive mass and/or force detection of this invention includes a mechanical oscillator driven to oscillate in a nonlinear regime. The mechanical oscillator includes a piezoelectric base with at least one cantilever resonator etched into the piezoelectric base. The cantilever resonator is preferably a nonlinear resonator which is driven to oscillate with a frequency and an amplitude. The system of this invention detects an amplitude collapse of the cantilever resonator at a bifurcation frequency as the cantilever resonator stimulated over a frequency range. As mass and/or force is introduced to the cantilever resonator, the bifurcation frequency shifts along a frequency axis in proportion to the added mass.
Claims20
A method for ultrasensitive mass and force detection comprising:
- mounting a cantilever resonator on a piezoelectric transducer;
- driving the piezoelectric transducer to oscillate the cantilever resonator with an amplitude over a frequency range;
- deflecting a laser beam focused at an angle on the cantilever resonator;
- projecting the deflected laser beam as a spot with an oscillation amplitude onto a screen;
- and
- detecting a bifurcation frequency of the cantilever resonator as a drop in the oscillation amplitude.
A system for ultrasensitive mass and force detection comprising:
- a piezoelectric base;
- a cantilever resonator including a free end and a fixed end, the fixed end attached to the piezoelectric base and the free end extending away from the piezoelectric base;
- a transducer connected to the piezoelectric base to drive the cantilever resonator to oscillate at an amplitude and a frequency;
- a digital programmable sweep generator in communication with the transducer to excite the cantilever resonator over a frequency range;
- a laser including a laser beam focused at an angle to the cantilever resonator;
- wherein the digital programmable generator sweeps the transducer across the frequency range to determine a bifurcation frequency and the system detects an external stimuli by measuring shifts of the bifurcation frequency.
A system for ultrasensitive mass and force detection comprising:
- a piezoelectric base;
- a transducer connected to the piezoelectric base;
- a cantilever resonator including a free end and a fixed end, the fixed end mounted to the piezoelectric base and the free end extending away from the piezoelectric base;
- a driver in electrical communication with a modulated light source and a projecting optics, the modulated light source and the projecting optics directing light on the cantilever and the piezoelectric base;
- a digital camera, an imaging optics and a spatial filter positioned over the piezoelectric base and the beam to capture a reflected light from the piezoelectric base and the cantilever;
- and
- wherein the transducer drives the cantilever into a nonlinear resonance and the system detects an external stimuli by measuring shifts in a bifurcation point.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.