Force sensitivity of multilayer graphene optomechanical devices

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates highly sensitive force detection using multilayer graphene resonators coupled to superconducting cavities, achieving femtonewton sensitivity and low phonon occupation, with potential applications in quantum sensing.

Contribution

It introduces a method to strongly couple multilayer graphene resonators to superconducting cavities, achieving record force sensitivity and low phonon occupation in a compact device.

Findings

Force sensitivity of 390 zN/Hz^{1/2} achieved

Displacement sensitivity of 1.3 fm/Hz^{1/2} demonstrated

Resonators damped to an average phonon occupation of 7.2

Abstract

Mechanical resonators based on low-dimensional materials are promising for force and mass sensing experiments. The force sensitivity in these ultra-light resonators is often limited by the imprecision in the measurement of the vibrations, the fluctuations of the mechanical resonant frequency, and the heating induced by the measurement. Here, we strongly couple multilayer graphene resonators to superconducting cavities in order to achieve a displacement sensitivity of $1.3$ fm Hz$^{-1/2}$. This coupling also allows us to damp the resonator to an average phonon occupation of $7.2$. Our best force sensitivity, $390$ zN Hz$^{-1/2}$ with a bandwidth of $200$ Hz, is achieved by balancing measurement imprecision, optomechanical damping, and heating. Our results hold promise for studying the quantum capacitance of graphene, its magnetization, and the electron and nuclear spins of molecules adsorbed on its surface.