Observation of single-defect relaxation in a freely suspended nano resonator

¹ Center for NanoScience and Sektion Physik, Ludwigs-Maximilians-Universität München - Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 80539 München, Germany
² Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison 1415 Engineering Drive, Madison WI 53706, USA
³ Lehrstuhl für Experimentalphysik I, Universität Augsburg Universitätsstraße 1, 86135 Augsburg, Germany
⁴ Institut für Angewandte und Experimentelle Physik, Universität Regensburg 93040 Regensburg, Germany
⁵ Walter Schottky Institut - Am Coloumbwall 3, 85748 Garching, Germany

Received: 13 October 2006
Accepted: 18 October 2006

Abstract

Relaxation of single defects in a nanometer-sized resonator is observed by coupling surface acoustic waves to a freely suspended beam. The surface waves act on the resonator as driving forces being able to modify the internal friction in the beam. In analogy to classical experiments on internal friction in macroscopic samples, we perform frequency, amplitude, and temperature-dependent experiments on the nano resonator and find a scenario which is consistent with the observation of single-defect relaxation.