We study nanomechanical resonators with frequency fluctuations due to diffusion of absorbed particles. The diffusion depends on the vibration amplitude through inertial effect. We find that, if the diffusion coefficient is sufficiently large, the res
onator response to periodic driving displays bistability. The lifetime of the coexisting vibrational states scales exponentially with the diffusion coefficient. It also displays a characteristic scaling dependence on the distance to bifurcation points.
We study resonant response of an underdamped nanomechanical resonator with fluctuating frequency. The fluctuations are due to diffusion of molecules or microparticles along the resonator. They lead to broadening and change of shape of the oscillator
spectrum. The spectrum is found for the diffusion confined to a small part of the resonator and where it occurs along the whole nanobeam. The analysis is based on extending to the continuous limit, and appropriately modifying, the method of interfering partial spectra. We establish the conditions of applicability of the fluctuation-dissipation relations between the susceptibility and the power spectrum. We also find where the effect of frequency fluctuations can be described by a convolution of the spectra without these fluctuations and with them as the only source of the spectral broadening.
We propose a scheme to measure the mass of a single particle using the nonlinear response of a 2D nanoresonator with degenerate eigenmodes. Using numerical and analytical calculations, we show that by driving a square graphene nanoresonator into the
nonlinear regime, simultaneous determination of the mass and position of an added particle is possible. Moreover, this scheme only requires measurements in a narrow frequency band near the fundamental resonance.
