Sep 20 – 25, 2026
University of Graz
Europe/Vienna timezone

Fluctuation instabilities via internal resonance in a multimode membrane resonator as a mechanism for frequency combs

Sep 22, 2026, 11:45 AM
15m
HS 15.12 (University of Graz)

HS 15.12

University of Graz

15 - RESOWI C, 1st floor
3) Contributed talk M29 - Nanomechanical, Electromechanical, Optomechanical and Levitated Systems Mini-Colloquium

Speaker

Elke Scheer

Description

In this presentation I will address the possibility to generate an acoustic frequency comb by self-induced parametric coupling of flexural modes in a micron-scale membrane resonator. We detect the flexural modes using an inductive detection scheme [1]. The frequency comb arises as the result of the formation of a limit cycle (LC) following a Hopf bifurcation. We employ a novel pump-noisy-probe technique to record which mechanical excitation sidebands merge at the bifurcation. By thorough theoretical modelling we reveal the mechanism for this comb generation and show that it does not result from locking or synchronizing pre-existing frequencies. Instead, the comb frequency arises from the nonlinear properties of the system and can continuously be tuned by the drive power, similar to the RIFF mechanism [2]. Instead, the comb frequency arises from the nonlinear properties of the system and can continuously be tuned by the drive power [3].
[1] F. Yang, M. Fu, B. Bosnjak, R. H. Blick, Y. Jiang and Elke Scheer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 184301 (2021).
[2] J. S. Ochs, D. K. J. Boneß, G. Rastelli, M. Seitner, W. Belzig, M. I. Dykman, E. M. Weig, Phys. Rev. X 12, 041019 (2022).
[3] M. Fu, O. Ameye, F. Yang, J. del Pino, J. Košata, T. Heugel, O. Zilberberg, E. Scheer, Phys. Rev. Research 7, 033127 (2025).

Author

Elke Scheer

Co-authors

Dr Mengqi Fu (University of Konstanz) Prof. Oded Zilberberg (University of Konstanz) Dr Orjan Ameye (University of Konstanz)

Presentation materials

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