title: Real-Time Measurement of Nanotube Resonator Fluctuations in an Electron Microscope.
abstract: Mechanical resonators based on low-dimensional materials provide a unique platform for exploring a broad range of physical phenomena. The mechanical vibrational states are indeed extremely sensitive to charges, spins, photons, and adsorbed masses. However, the roadblock is often the readout of the resonator, because the detection of the vibrational states becomes increasingly difficult for smaller resonators. Here, we report an unprecedentedly sensitive method to detect nanotube resonators with effective masses in the 10-20kg range. We use the beam of an electron microscope to resolve the mechanical fluctuations of a nanotube in real-time for the first time. We obtain full access to the thermally driven Brownian motion of the resonator, both in space and time domains. Our results establish the viability of carbon nanotube resonator technology at room temperature and pave the way toward the observation of novel thermodynamics regimes and quantum effects in nanomechanics.
authors.affiliation: ICFO-Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology , 08860 Castelldefels (Barcelona), Spain.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tsioutsios
authors.affiliation: ICFO-Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology , 08860 Castelldefels (Barcelona), Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tavernarakis
authors.affiliation: ICFO-Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology , 08860 Castelldefels (Barcelona), Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Osmond
authors.affiliation: ICFO-Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology , 08860 Castelldefels (Barcelona), Spain.|Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, Institut Lumière Matière , F-69622 Lyon, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5105-3319
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Verlot
authors.affiliation: ICFO-Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology , 08860 Castelldefels (Barcelona), Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6145-2479
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bachtold
keywords: Brownian motion; Carbon nanotube resonators; NEMS; electron microscopy; nanomechanics; thermal noise