Telegraph frequency noise in electromechanical resonators

TL;DR

This paper experimentally investigates telegraph frequency noise in micromechanical resonators, revealing how such noise affects the vibration spectrum and amplitude moments, even amidst thermal or detector noise.

Contribution

It demonstrates the detection of telegraph frequency noise through spectral analysis and amplitude moments in micromechanical resonators, highlighting the motional narrowing effect.

Findings

Two peaks in the vibration spectrum merge with increased frequency switching rate.

The moments of the complex amplitude depend on the frequency noise characteristics.

The dependence persists despite thermal or detector noise presence.

Abstract

We demonstrate experimentally the possibility of revealing fluctuations in the eigenfrequency of a resonator when the frequency noise is of the telegraph type. Using a resonantly driven micromechanical resonator, we show that the time-averaged vibration amplitude spectrum exhibits two peaks. They merge with an increasing rate of frequency switching and the spectrum displays an analog of motional narrowing. We also show that the moments of the complex amplitude depend strongly on the frequency noise characteristics. This dependence remains valid even when strong thermal or detector noise is present.