In this paper we show that the detection back-action phenomenon is very significant in ultrathin bimetallic cantilevers, in which the laser beam that probes the picometer scale vibration largely modifies the resonant frequencies of the system. We demonstrate that this effect arises from the stress and strain generated by the laser heating. The experiments are explained by two-dimensional nonlinear elasticity theory and supported by finite element simulations. The found phenomenology is intimately connected to the old unsolved problem about the effect of surface stress on the resonance frequency of singly clamped beams.
Our PhD students Javier Escobar and Juan Molina have been able to control the transport of extremely small amounts of liquids, in the order of zeptoliters (1 zL = 10-21 L), when these flow along resonant nanofluidic channels. Álvaro San Paulo, responsible for the work, explains: “What we have achieved is to measure with precision…
