Optically Actuated Transitions in Multimodal, Bistable Micromechanical Oscillators

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Michaeli, Lior, Gao, Ramon, Kelzenberg, Michael D., Hail, Claudio U., Sader, John E., Atwater, Harry A.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Michaeli, Lior
Gao, Ramon
Kelzenberg, Michael D.
Hail, Claudio U.
Sader, John E.
Atwater, Harry A.
author_facet Michaeli, Lior
Gao, Ramon
Kelzenberg, Michael D.
Hail, Claudio U.
Sader, John E.
Atwater, Harry A.
contents We experimentally demonstrate a new class of optomechanical nonlinearities in weakly damped micromechanical resonators, arising from the interplay between the Duffing nonlinearity, intermodal coupling, and thermal fluctuations. Within the bistable regime of a single Duffing mode driven by radiation pressure forces, we observe stochastically generated sidebands, originating from thermal fluctuations around equilibrium trajectories in phase space, and exploit these sidebands to induce probabilistic transitions between bistable states using weak secondary acoustic excitation. Extending this framework to multimodal interactions, we show that nonlinear modes coupling within the same resonator leads to similar transitions due to parametric modulation around the noise-excited sidebands as a result of frequency mixing. Simultaneously, abrupt changes in displacements of modes cause their instantaneous energy exchange rates to span five orders of magnitude. These findings open new avenues for reconfigurable optomechanical networks, nonreciprocal energy transport, and precision sensing based on dynamically tunable mechanical nonlinearities.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_22605
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Optically Actuated Transitions in Multimodal, Bistable Micromechanical Oscillators
Michaeli, Lior
Gao, Ramon
Kelzenberg, Michael D.
Hail, Claudio U.
Sader, John E.
Atwater, Harry A.
Optics
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Applied Physics
We experimentally demonstrate a new class of optomechanical nonlinearities in weakly damped micromechanical resonators, arising from the interplay between the Duffing nonlinearity, intermodal coupling, and thermal fluctuations. Within the bistable regime of a single Duffing mode driven by radiation pressure forces, we observe stochastically generated sidebands, originating from thermal fluctuations around equilibrium trajectories in phase space, and exploit these sidebands to induce probabilistic transitions between bistable states using weak secondary acoustic excitation. Extending this framework to multimodal interactions, we show that nonlinear modes coupling within the same resonator leads to similar transitions due to parametric modulation around the noise-excited sidebands as a result of frequency mixing. Simultaneously, abrupt changes in displacements of modes cause their instantaneous energy exchange rates to span five orders of magnitude. These findings open new avenues for reconfigurable optomechanical networks, nonreciprocal energy transport, and precision sensing based on dynamically tunable mechanical nonlinearities.
title Optically Actuated Transitions in Multimodal, Bistable Micromechanical Oscillators
topic Optics
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Applied Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.22605