title: Evidence for quantized displacement in macroscopic nanomechanical oscillators.
abstract: We report the observation of discrete displacement of nanomechanical oscillators with gigahertz-range resonance frequencies at millikelvin temperatures. The oscillators are nanomachined single-crystal structures of silicon, designed to provide two distinct sets of coupled elements with very low and very high frequencies. With this novel design, femtometer-level displacement of the frequency-determining element is amplified into collective motion of the entire micron-sized structure. The observed discrete response possibly results from energy quantization at the onset of the quantum regime in these macroscopic nanomechanical oscillators.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Boston University, 590 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Alexei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gaidarzhy
authors.forename: Guiti
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zolfagharkhani
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Badzey
authors.forename: Pritiraj
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mohanty