Diffusion-induced bistability of driven nanomechanical resonators

Abstract: 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 resonator 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.