Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are nonlinear high-Q resonators with strong couplingto single-electron tunneling. We begin by describing several methods to detectthe flexural motion of a CNT resonator. Next, we illustrate how single-electrontunneling in quantum dot CNT resonators leads to sharp dips in the mechanicalresonance frequency and significant damping. We discuss four differentcontributions to the nonlinear oscillation of a CNT resonator: beam-likemechanical nonlinearity, nonlinearity due to gate-induced mechanical tension,electrostatic nonlinearity, and nonlinearity due to single-electron tunneling,and provide quantitative estimates of their strengths. Finally, we show how thelarge response of the resonance frequency of a CNT resonator to a change ingate voltage or tension makes CNT resonators ideally suited for parametricexcitation and for studying the coupling between different mechanical modes.
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