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Promising combination
Researchers from the SNI network have fabricated a tiny optomechanical device consisting of a two-dimensional, free-hanging hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) layer suspended above holes in a silicon nitride membrane. The tiny hBN drum can be excited and then begins to vibrate, acting as a mechanical resonator.
In the experiments, the researchers showed that the hBN layer and the silicon nitride membrane form a unit that combines the advantages of both materials. In this context, the measurement data showed great agreement with simulations that assume an idealized geometry of the components.
"We were able to show that these devices made from 2D materials are perfectly suited for optomechanical or sensing applications," comments David Jaeger, first author of the study and a doctoral student in the Swiss Nanoscience Institute's PhD School.
The researchers from the Department of Physics at the University of Basel recently published these results in the scientific journal Nano Letters.