title: Stochastic switching of cantilever motion.
abstract: The cantilever is a prototype of a highly compliant mechanical system and has an instrumental role in nanotechnology, enabling surface microscopy, and ultrasensitive force and mass measurements. Here we report fluctuation-induced transitions between two stable states of a strongly driven microcantilever. Geometric nonlinearity gives rise to an amplitude-dependent resonance frequency and bifurcation occurs beyond a critical point. The cantilever response to a weak parametric modulation is amplified by white noise, resulting in an optimum signal-to-noise ratio at finite noise intensity. This stochastic switching suggests new detection schemes for cantilever-based instrumentation, where the detection of weak signals is mediated by the fluctuating environment. For ultrafloppy, cantilevers with nanometer-scale dimensions operating at room temperature--a new transduction paradigm emerges that is based on probability distributions and mimics nature.
authors.affiliation: Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, Lorentzweg 1, Delft 2628CJ, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Warner J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Venstra
authors.forename: Hidde J R
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Westra
authors.forename: Herre S J
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: van der Zant