Mechanical Signatures of the Current Blockade Instability in Suspended Carbon Nanotubes

G. Micchi, R. Avriller, and F. Pistolesi
Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 206802 – Published 11 November 2015
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Abstract

Transport measurements allow sensitive detection of nanomechanical motion of suspended carbon nanotubes. It has been predicted that when the electromechanical coupling is sufficiently large a bistability with a current blockade appears. Unambiguous observation of this transition by current measurements may be difficult. Instead, we investigate the mechanical response of the system, namely, the displacement spectral function, the linear response to a driving, and the ring-down behavior. We find that by increasing the electromechanical coupling the peak in the spectral function broadens and shifts at low frequencies while the oscillator dephasing time shortens. These effects are maximum at the transition where nonlinearities dominate the dynamics. These strong signatures open the way to detect the blockade transition in devices currently studied by several groups.

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  • Received 20 July 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.206802

© 2015 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

G. Micchi1,2, R. Avriller1,2, and F. Pistolesi1,2,*

  • 1Univ. Bordeaux, LOMA, UMR 5798, F-33400 Talence, France
  • 2CNRS, LOMA, UMR 5798, F-33400 Talence, France

  • *Corresponding author. fabio.pistolesi@u-bordeaux.fr

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Issue

Vol. 115, Iss. 20 — 13 November 2015

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