Modeling of quantum nanomechanics

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are approaching the nanoscale, which ultimately implies that the mechanical motion needs to be treated quantum mechanically. In recent years our group has developed theoretical methods to analyze the shuttle transition in the quantum regime (Novotny, 2004), focusing not only in the IV-curve, but also considering noise, which is an important diagnostic tool in unraveling the microscopic transport mechanisms. Our theoretical analysis is based on a numerical solution of a generalized master equation (GME) for the density matrix. This equation is obtained by tracing the Liouville equation over the bath degrees of freedom (i.e., the free fermions of the electronic contacts, and the damping of the mechanical degree of freedom due to a bosonic environment).