Any polarizable object exposed to an inhomogeneous field will experience a force. We employ this simple concept as an innovative and highly efficient scheme to actuate, frequency tune and couple the eigenmodes of nanomechanical resonators by a dielectric gradient force generated by electrodes located in the vicinity of the resonator. Refined electrode geometries are currently being explored to increase control over the string’s eigenmodes, and novel concepts to improve microwave cavity assisted heterodyne displacement detection are developed.

See:  Unterreithmeier et al., Nature 458, 1001 (2009), Rieger et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 101 103110 (2012), T. Faust et al., Nat. Commun. 3,728 (2012)