Nanomechanical systems with small dissipation

This thesis is devoted to a systematic development of methods for controlling energy dissipation in small mechanical systems, specifically nanomechanical resonators with at least one dimension in the deep nanometer range (< 200 nm). We explored three avenues for decreasing intrinsic dissipation and one method for decreasing non-contact friction. The three routes toward lower intrinsic dissipation are surface chemical engineering, alternative materials testing, and geometric optimization through nanofabrication. Reduction in non-contact friction between a vibrating nanomechanical resonator and a surface, spaced nanometers away from the latter, was achieved by using a diamond nanowire as an integrated scanning tip. Each of the four approaches led to between one and two orders of magnitude reduction in dissipation compared to the previous state-of-the-art in the literature. Planned integration of individual successful approaches is expected to result in devices with sufficient force sensitivity and with the suitable geometry for the nanomechanical detection of a single nuclear spin by magnetic resonance force microscopy.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemistry.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Tao, Ye, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Chemistry.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/101455

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/101455