Cascade of Modal Interactions in Nanomechanical Resonators with Soft Clamping

Author(s): Zichao Li, Minxing Xu, Richard A. Norte, Alejandro M. Aragón, Peter G. Steeneken, and Farbod Alijani We uncover a chain of nonlinear modal interactions in softly clamped nanostring resonators. The process involves the sequential coupling of five mechanical modes, during frequency sweeps, yielding a broad nonlinear response with nearly constant amplitude. We demonstrate that soft clamping enables th… [Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 097202] Published Mon Mar 02, 2026