This paper shows that matter-wave interferometers employing low-velocity neutral atoms can be used as inertial sensors with sensitivities that exceed those of conventional mechanical sensors and multiple circuit optical interferometers by many powers of ten. The energy and mass dependence of the phase shifts that are due to rotation and acceleration are different. Thus a pair of interferometers...

We have used optical drive and detection to study dissipation in silicon nitride beam resonators. We are able to tune resonant frequency as well as quality factor in a given nanostring resonator by several hundred percent by tuning the stress in real time, providing a unique look into the sources of dissipation for this class of nanoresonator. A record room temperature quality factor of 390,000...

In response to a magnetic field impulse, magnetostrictive magnetoelastic sensors mechanically vibrate. These vibrations can be detected in several ways: optically from the amplitude modulation of a reflected laser beam, acoustically using a microphone or hydrophone, and by using a pickup coil to detect the magnetic flux emitted from the sensor. Earlier work has shown that the resonant frequency...

I describe photonic bandgap (PBG) fiber-based resonant optical sensors of analyte’s refractive index which have recently invoked strong interest due to the development of novel fiber types and of techniques for the activation of fiber microstructure with functional materials. Particularly, I consider two sensors types. One employs hollow-core photonic bandgap fibers where the core-guided mode i...

An analytical expression relating mass and position of a particle attached on a cantilever to the resulting change in cantilever resonant frequency is derived. Theoretically, the position and mass of the attached particle can be deduced by combining measured resonant frequencies of several bending modes. This finding is verified experimentally using a microscale cantilever with and without an a...

Passive wireless surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonant sensors are suitable for applications in harsh environments. The traditional SAW resonant sensor system requires, however, Fourier transformation (FT) which has a resolution restriction and decreases the accuracy. In order to improve the accuracy and resolution of the measurement, the singular value decomposition (SVD)-based frequency estima...

Towards the goal of developing a real-time monitoring device for microorganisms, we demonstrate the use of microcantilevers as resonant mass sensors for detection of Bacillus anthracis Sterne spores in air and liquid. The detection scheme was based on measuring resonant frequency decrease driven by thermally induced oscillations, as a result of the added mass of the spores with the use of a las...