Novel buckled shapes of free-standing mesoscopic beams

We discuss the observation of novel buckled shapes of free-standing mesoscopic beams fabricated using conventional electron-beam lithography and plasma etching. As the length-to-width aspect ratio of the beams is increased the buckled shapes become more complex. Based on analysis of beams in the low aspect ratio regime using a nonlinear elastic continuum model, we obtain an upper bound on the magnitude of the fundamental mode asymmetry and relate this to higher-order asymmetry. We also observe an electromechanical mode-mode transition using capacitively coupled gates.