Diffusion-induced bistability of driven nanomechanical resonators

TL;DR

This paper investigates how particle diffusion affects the bistability in driven nanomechanical resonators, revealing that high diffusion coefficients induce bistability with state lifetimes scaling exponentially.

Contribution

It introduces a novel understanding of diffusion-induced bistability in nanomechanical systems, highlighting the role of amplitude-dependent diffusion and scaling near bifurcation points.

Findings

Bistability occurs when diffusion coefficient exceeds a threshold.

State lifetime scales exponentially with diffusion coefficient.

Scaling laws near bifurcation points are characterized.

Abstract

We study nanomechanical resonators with frequency fluctuations due to diffusion of absorbed particles. The diffusion depends on the vibration amplitude through inertial effect. We find that, if the diffusion coefficient is sufficiently large, the resonator response to periodic driving displays bistability. The lifetime of the coexisting vibrational states scales exponentially with the diffusion coefficient. It also displays a characteristic scaling dependence on the distance to bifurcation points.