Publications related to Optical measurement method for mechanical time base characterization

Room-temperature quantum optomechanics using an ultralow noise cavity

Tobias Kippenberg, Nils Johan Engelsen, Alberto Beccari, Guanhao Huang

At room temperature, mechanical motion driven by the quantum backaction of light has been observed only in pioneering experiments in which an optical restoring force controls the oscillator stiffness1,2. For solid-state mechanical resonators in which oscil ...

Nature Portfolio2024

Pivot, process for manufacturing such a pivot, oscillator comprising such a pivot, watch movement and timepiece comprising such an oscillator

Simon Nessim Henein, Loïc Benoît Tissot-Daguette

The present invention concerns a pivot comprising two assemblies, namely a central assembly (401) and a peripheral assembly (400). These two assemblies are mobile in rotation relative to each other around an axis of rotation (A). The pivot is characterized ...

2024

Ultrahigh-quality-factor micro- and nanomechanical resonators using dissipation dilution

Tobias Kippenberg, Nils Johan Engelsen, Alberto Beccari

Mechanical resonators are widely used in sensors, transducers and optomechanical systems, where mechanical dissipation sets the ultimate limit to performance. Over the past 15 years, the quality factors in strained mechanical resonators have increased by f ...

Nature Portfolio2024

3D printed large amplitude torsional microactuators powered by ultrasound

Mehdi Ali Gadiri, Mahmut Selman Sakar, Amit Yedidia Dolev, Junsun Hwang

Here, we introduce a design, fabrication, and control methodology for large amplitude torsional microactuators powered by ultrasound. The microactuators are 3D printed from two polymers with drastically different elastic moduli as a monolithic compliant me ...

2024

Nanomechanical resonators with low dissipation for quantum optomechanics

Alberto Beccari

Fields of technology as diverse as microwave filter construction, characterization of material interfaces with atomic precision, and detection of gravitational waves from astronomical sources employ mechanical resonators at their core. The utility of mecha ...

EPFL2023

Mechanism balancing taxonomy

Simon Nessim Henein, Florent Cosandier, Hubert Pierre-Marie Benoît Schneegans

The balancing of mechanisms consists in distributing their moving masses, inertias, and elastic components in order to achieve key mechanical properties, such as the elimination of the shaking forces and moments exported onto their supporting structure or ...

2023

Strength and timing of primary and secondary vortices generated by a rotating plate

Karen Ann J Mulleners, Diego Francescangeli

Accurate predictions of how vortices grow, evolve, and separate from aerodynamic objects are desirable for various applications ranging from autonomous aerial vehicles to wind turbines. Here, we present an experimental characterisation of the formation pro ...

2023

Damping of flexure blades based on bi-material additive manufacturing

Simon Nessim Henein, Florent Cosandier, Nicolas Blondiaux, Elias Sebastian Klauser, Loïc Benoît Tissot-Daguette, Nikola Kalentics, Lisa Salamin, Florent Alexandre Boudoire

Flexure-based mechanisms have become state-of-the-art solutions for the design of high-precision mechanisms, free from friction wear, backlash, and lubrication. These properties which are necessary for applications in ultraclean or harsh environments, neve ...

2023

NbN films with high kinetic inductance for high-quality compact superconducting resonators

Edoardo Charbon, Simone Frasca, Pasquale Scarlino, Vincent Jean Yves Jouanny, Fabian Oppliger, Fabrizio Minganti, Marco Scigliuzzo, Roberto Musio

Niobium nitride (NbN) is a particularly promising material for quantum technology applications, as it shows the degree of reproducibility necessary for large-scale superconducting circuits. We demonstrate that resonators based on NbN thin films present a o ...

American Physical Society (APS)2023

Perimeter Modes of Nanomechanical Resonators Exhibit Quality Factors Exceeding 10(9) at Room Temperature

Tobias Kippenberg, Sergey Fedorov, Nils Johan Engelsen, Alberto Beccari, Amirali Arabmoheghi, Guanhao Huang

Systems with low mechanical dissipation are extensively used in precision measurements such as gravitational wave detection, atomic force microscopy, and quantum control of mechanical oscillators via optomechanics and electromechanics. The mechanical quali ...

American Physical Society2022

Triple Crossed Flexure Pivot Based on a Zero Parasitic Center Shift Kinematic Design

Simon Nessim Henein, Etienne Frédéric Gabriel Thalmann

Thanks to their absence of play, absence of contact friction and possible monolithic fabrication, flexure pivots offer advantages over traditional bearings in small-scale, high accuracy applications and environments where lubrication and wear debris are pr ...

2022

Strained crystalline nanomechanical resonators with quality factors above 10 billion

Tobias Kippenberg, Sergey Fedorov, Nils Johan Engelsen, Alberto Beccari

In strained mechanical resonators, the concurrence of tensile stress and geometric nonlinearity dramatically reduces dissipation. This phenomenon, called dissipation dilution, is employed in mirror suspensions of gravitational-wave interferometers and at t ...

NATURE PORTFOLIO2022

Optimization of Edge Profile for Improved Anti-Resonance Quality Factor in Lithium Niobate SH0 Resonators

Luis Guillermo Villanueva Torrijo, Silvan Stettler

Thin-film lithium niobate (LNO) has been identified as a promising material platform for enabling high electromechanical coupling and low-loss piezoelectric resonators for filtering applications. In this work, the design and fabrication of fundamental shea ...

IEEE2022

Reduced material loss in thin-film lithium niobate waveguides

Tobias Kippenberg, Di Zhu, Guanhao Huang, Mikhail Churaev, Zihan Li

Thin-film lithium niobate has shown promise for scalable applications ranging from single-photon sources to high-bandwidth data communication systems. Realization of the next generation high-performance classical and quantum devices, however, requires much ...

AIP Publishing2022

Growth, timing, & trajectory of vortices behind a rotating plate

Diego Francescangeli

The presence of aerodynamic vortices is widespread in nature. They can be found at small scales near the wing tip of flying insects or at bigger scale in the form of hurricanes, cyclones or even galaxies. They are identified as coherent regions of high vor ...

EPFL2022

Shaking force balancing of a 2-DOF isotropic horological oscillator

Simon Nessim Henein, Etienne Frédéric Gabriel Thalmann, Hubert Pierre-Marie Benoît Schneegans

Despite centuries of research and significant advances, the escapement mechanism used to count and maintain oscillations of mechanical time bases remains a complex mechanism and a major source of energy losses. We showed in previous work that, instead of t ...

2021

Rocker oscillator time bases

Simon Nessim Henein, Ilan Vardi

Since the invention of the pendulum clock by Christiaan Huygens in 1657, precision timekeepers have been regulated by oscillators. Although the pendulum is not an isochronous oscillator, its introduction as a time basis for clock regulation led to a signif ...

2021

High-yield, wafer-scale fabrication of ultralow-loss, dispersion-engineered silicon nitride photonic circuits

Rui Ning Wang, Tobias Kippenberg, Junqiu Liu, Arslan Sajid Raja, Nils Johan Engelsen, Guanhao Huang, Jijun He, Tianyi Liu

Low-loss photonic integrated circuits and microresonators have enabled a wide range of applications, such as narrow-linewidth lasers and chip-scale frequency combs. To translate these into a widespread technology, attaining ultralow optical losses with est ...

Nature Research2021

Development of Lamb wave resonators in thin film X-cut lithium niobate

Muhammad Faizan

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) is among the most revolutionary technologies of 21st century, with the applications ranging from industrial systems to consumer electronics. Using MEMS in battery-powered wireless devices has long been seen as the evol ...

EPFL2021

Control-Free Mechanical Oscillator Powered by Shape Memory Alloys

Paolo Germano, Yves Perriard, Sean Thomas, Thomas Guillaume Martinez

Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) based actuators have been commonly used in applications that require being compact and lightweight. In this paper, the inherent stiffness of a flexure-based linear guide is used to create a bias-spring SMA actuator which further re ...

IEEE2021