Nanomechanical resonance measurement facility

当拨动乐器上的弦时，弦以特定的共振频率振动；增加弦的重量(或选择较粗的弦)可以移动到较低的频率或音调。纳米级谐振器是直径从百万分之一到千分之一毫米的弦或棒，足够灵敏，可以在增加的重量小到几个大分子的情况下显示共振频率的可测量变化。通过在它们的表面涂上一层，只允许特定的分子，如疾病标记分子结合，我们可以检测到少量的标记。癌症的早期检测、治疗过程中疾病状态的灵敏监测以及环境中微量化学物质的检测都是具有强大潜力的应用。此外，可以从小型结构的共振频率来评估具有不同内部结构的新材料的刚度和耐久性。对共振的研究还可以灵敏地测量气体分子与谐振器表面碰撞所产生的力，有助于发展稀薄气体动力学理论。这一理论可以用来预测为生物传感器设计的更复杂的纳米结构形状上的空气阻尼力，或者预测大尺寸物体进入稀薄高层大气后的轨迹。

A string on a musical instrument vibrates at a characteristic resonance frequency when plucked; adding weight to the string (or choosing a thicker string) allows shift to a lower frequency, or pitch. Nanoscale resonators are strings or rods of diameter from millionths to a thousandth of a millimeter in diameter, sensitive enough to show a measurable change in resonance frequency with added weight as small as that of a few large molecules. By coating their surface to allow only specific molecules e.g. disease marker molecules, to bind, we can detect small concentrations of markers. Early detection of cancer, sensitive monitoring of disease states during treatment, as well as detection of traces of chemicals in the environment are applications with strong potential. Additionally, the stiffness and durability of new materials engineered to have different internal structure can be evaluated from the resonance frequency of small structures. Study of the resonance also allows sensitive measurement of the force due to gas molecules colliding with the resonator surface, helping the development of rarefied gas dynamics theory. This theory may be used to predict the air damping force on more complex nanostructure shapes designed for biosensors, or the trajectory of large metre-sized objects after entering the rarefied upper atmosphere.