EAGER: Fluctuations and dissipation in nonlinear mesoscopic vibrational systems

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

Non-technical abstract Today's technology allows the fabrication of devices with sizes on the order of nanometers that are used in a variety of applications such as light modulation and mass measurements in labs-on-a-chip. The functioning of these nano electro-mechanical systems, or NEMS, can currently be fairly well understood using the laws of classical mechanics first developed by Newton. However, as the device size continues to shrink new effects will emerge that govern their behavior. For very small devices Newton's laws are no longer valid and the more mysterious and counterintuitive laws of quantum mechanics will govern the behavior. In addition, fluctuations and non-linearity's in the device will become more important. This EAGER brings together an experimental and theoretical physicist to develop new analytical tools and experimental methods to understand, predict and control NEMS when fluctuations and non-linear behavior become important. This will have important practical consequences as these devices are used for mass, charge and force measurements, accurate frequency sources and electro-optic modulators. Graduate students involved in this project will learn state of the art experimental and theoretical techniques and will gain valuable experience working in an experimental-theoretical collaboration. Technical abstract NEMS are the best characterized platform for studies of quantum and classical fluctuations far from equilibrium, including such phenomena as interstate switching and optomechanical cooling and heating. However, there remain major questions concerning the very origin of the fluctuations and the mechanisms of dissipation in these systems, as well as the interplay of fluctuations, dissipation, and nonlinearity. Conventional theories of open quantum and classical systems are insufficient, as they do not adequately describe substantially nonlinear vibrations and the effects of non-Gaussian fluctuations. The research supported by this grant will develop theoretical and experimental means for separating and identifying eigenfrequency fluctuations and studying their statistics and spectra. In turn, this will make it possible to establish their microscopic mechanism. In a broader context, the proposed studies pave the way to understanding general features of classical and quantum fluctuations away from thermal equilibrium using nonlinear NEMS driven by strong periodic fields.