Modelling a suspended nanotube oscillator

TL;DR

This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of oscillations in suspended one-dimensional elastic systems like nanotubes, revealing how slack and external forces influence their vibrational behavior across different regimes.

Contribution

It introduces a general model for oscillations in suspended elastic systems, applicable to nanotubes and nanowires, and maps their behavior into a dimensionless phase diagram.

Findings

Vibrational frequencies are highly sensitive to slack.

Three distinct behavioral regimes are identified.

Results align with recent nanotube and nanowire experiments.

Abstract

We present a general study of oscillations in suspended one-dimensional elastic systems clamped at each end, exploring a wide range of slack (excess length) and downward external forces. Our results apply directly to recent experiments in nanotube and silicon nanowire oscillators. We find the behavior to simplify in three well-defined regimes which we present in a dimensionless phase diagram. The frequencies of vibration of such systems are found to be extremely sensitive to slack.