Nanomechanics

News and Updates

Quantum Thermometer or Optical Refrigerator?

June 22, 2017

In an arranged marriage of optics and mechanics, physicists have created microscopic structural beams that have a variety of powerful uses when light strikes

schematic of laser light interacting with a plasmonic gap resonator

NIST Device for Detecting Subatomic-Scale Motion Has Potential Robotics, Homeland Security Applications

December 15, 2016

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new device that measures the motion of super-tiny particles traversing

NIST Unveils Forensic Technique to Measure Mechanical Properties of Evidence

November 1, 2016

You may have seen it on CSI: The star examines hair from a crime scene and concludes its color or texture looks like the defendant’s hair, or maybe his dog’s

Projects and Programs

Schematic of approach to clean water membranes

Membranes for Clean Water

This project provides measurement solutions that probe the surface and internal structure of polymer membranes used in water purification, and correlate that

Micro- and nano-optomechanical systems

Light can interact with mechanical systems in interesting and useful ways, not only probing the mechanical motion with spectacular sensitivity, but also driving

Nanotribology for Nanomanufacturing (Archived)

Tribology is the science and technology of interacting surfaces in relative motion and includes studies of friction, adhesion, lubrication, and wear

Nanoscale Strength Measurements for Device Technologies

To develop new mechanical test structures and methodologies based on microelectromechanical and nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS) manufacturing

Publications

Fundamental limits and optimal estimation of the resonance frequency of a linear harmonic oscillator

September 15, 2021

Author(s)

Mingkang Wang, Rui Zhang, Robert Ilic, Yuxiang Liu, Vladimir Aksyuk

All physical oscillators, from optical cavities to mechanical cantilevers, are subject to thermodynamic and quantum perturbations and detection uncertainty

Overcoming thermo-optical dynamics in broadband nanophotonic sensing

July 7, 2021

Author(s)

Mingkang Wang, Diego J. Perez, Vladimir Aksyuk

Advances in integrated photonics open exciting opportunities for batch-fabricated optical nano- electro-mechanical sensors with ultra-high sensitivities and

Accurate localization microscopy by intrinsic aberration calibration

June 24, 2021

Author(s)

Craig Copeland, Craig McGray, Robert Ilic, Jon Geist, Samuel Stavis

A standard paradigm of localization microscopy involves extension from two to three dimensions by engineering information into emitter images, and approximation

High-throughput bend-strengths of ultra-small polysilicon MEMS components

May 17, 2021

Author(s)

Robert Cook, Brad Boyce, Lawrence Friedman, Frank DelRio

The strength distribution of polysilicon bend specimens, approximately 10 um in size, is measured using a high-throughput microelectromechanical system