The stochastic dynamics of nanoscale mechanical oscillators immersed in a viscous fluid

TL;DR

This paper presents a method to predict the stochastic behavior of nanoscale mechanical oscillators in viscous fluids by linking deterministic fluid-solid models with fluctuation-dissipation principles, validated on cantilever geometries.

Contribution

It introduces a straightforward approach to compute stochastic responses from deterministic models for nanoscale oscillators in viscous environments.

Findings

Deterministic calculations can predict stochastic responses.

The method applies to arbitrary geometries.

Validated on cantilever structures.

Abstract

The stochastic response of nanoscale oscillators of arbitrary geometry immersed in a viscous fluid is studied. Using the fluctuation-dissipation theorem it is shown that deterministic calculations of the governing fluid and solid equations can be used in a straightforward manner to directly calculate the stochastic response that would be measured in experiment. We use this approach to investigate the fluid coupled motion of single and multiple cantilevers with experimentally motivated geometries.