Noise color and asymmetry in stochastic resonance with silicon nanomechanical resonators

TL;DR

This study investigates how different types of colored noise, including 1/f noise and Ornstein-Uhlenbeck noise, affect stochastic resonance in silicon nanomechanical resonators, revealing that noise color and correlation time influence amplification and asymmetry.

Contribution

It provides experimental insights into the effects of colored noise and correlation time on stochastic resonance in nanomechanical systems, an area less explored compared to white noise.

Findings

Increasing noise color (alpha) enhances asymmetry and reduces amplification.

Higher correlation time suppresses spectral amplification monotonically.

1/f noise and Ornstein-Uhlenbeck noise influence system asymmetry and performance.

Abstract

Stochastic resonance with white noise has been well established as a potential signal amplification mechanism in nanomechanical two-state systems. While white noise represents the archetypal stimulus for stochastic resonance, typical operating environments for nanomechanical devices often contain different classes of noise, particularly colored noise with a 1/f spectrum. As a result, improved understanding of the effects of noise color will be helpful in maximizing device performance. Here we report measurements of stochastic resonance in a silicon nanomechanical resonator using 1/f noise and Ornstein-Uhlenbeck noise types. Power spectral densities and residence time distributions provide insight into asymmetry of the bistable amplitude states, and the data sets suggest that 1/f^alpha noise spectra with increasing noise color (i.e. alpha) may lead to increasing asymmetry in the system, reducing the achievable amplification. Furthermore, we explore the effects of correlation time tau on stochastic resonance with the use of exponentially correlated noise. We find monotonic suppression of the spectral amplification as the correlation time increases.