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Pomona
College Professor and Student Achieve Nanomechanical
Breakthrough
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Over the last 20 years, micro-mechanical devices have been
creeping towards what is theoretically the minimum size
possible, a single layer of atoms. Pomona College Professor
David Tanenbaum and Ian W. Frank (pictured), Pomona Class of 2008, are
part of a research team that has, for the first time ever,
achieved this ultimate limit in thickness for a nanomechanical device. Their work is described in the Jan.
26 Science Magazine article “Electromechanical
Resonators from Graphene Sheets.”
 In the study, the research group created mechanical
resonators made from a single atomic layer of carbon known
as graphene and performed detailed studies of its
properties. Findings that graphene is an electrically active
material with a small mass and reasonable dynamic range,
indicate that graphite resonators would make excellent mass
and charge sensors. “These unusual properties make it an
ideal candidate for a new class of ultra-thin sensors,” says
Tanenbaum.
As with electronics, smaller mechanical devices are faster,
operating at higher frequencies, than larger mechanical
devices. “You can visualize a typical device being like a
string in a musical instrument, a diving board, a tuning
fork, or a membrane like on a drum or a tambourine. All of
these devices resonate at some set of established
frequencies,” explains Tanenbaum. “Faster, high-frequency
devices can be used as sensors in a variety of different
systems. The most common one on the market today would be
the sensor in cars that determines if you have been in a
collision and starts the process of deploying an airbag.”
The work is part of an ongoing collaboration between Pomona
College’s Prof. David Tanenbaum and the research groups at
Cornell University led by professors Paul McEuen, Jeevak
Parpia, and Harold Craighead. The work is supported by the
National Science Foundation under grants to the Cornell
Center for Materials Research, the Cornell Center for
Nanoscale Systems, and the National Nanofabrication Users
Network.
Pomona College, founded in 1887, is one of the nation’s
premier liberal arts colleges and is known for close
relationships between students and faculty, and a range of
opportunities for student research. For more information
about the college, visit the Pomona College Website at
www.pomona.edu.
# # #
CONTACT:
David Tanenbaum
Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy
Pomona College
Phone: (909) 621-8122
Email:
David.Tanenbaum@pomona.edu |
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