Parametric amplification in single-walled carbon nanotube nanoelectromechanical resonators

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that parametric amplification can significantly enhance the quality factor of single-walled carbon nanotube resonators, improving their sensitivity for sensing applications by modulating the spring constant at twice the resonant frequency.

Contribution

It introduces a method of parametric amplification to boost the Q factor of SWNT resonators, achieving a record high Q at room temperature and identifying the catenary vibration regime as optimal for amplification.

Findings

Achieved a tenfold increase in Q factor through parametric amplification.

Highest Q of ~700 at room temperature, surpassing previous records.

Efficient amplification occurs only in the catenary vibration regime.

Abstract

The low quality factor (Q) of Single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) resonators has limited their sensitivity in sensing application. To this end, we employ the technique of parametric amplification by modulating the spring constant of SWNT resonators at twice the resonant frequency, and achieve 10 times Q enhancement. The highest Q obtained at room temperature is around ~700, which is 3-4 times better than previous Q record reported for doubly-clamped SWNT resonators. Furthermore, efficient parametric amplification is found to only occur in the catenary vibration regime. Our results open up the possibility to employ light-weight and high-Q carbon nanotube resonators in single molecule and atomic mass sensing.