This paper reports the design, optimization, and test results of a mechanical amplifier coupled to an electromagnetic energy harvester to generate power from lowamplitude (±1 mm) and low-frequency (<5 Hz) vibrations in the presence of large static displacements. When coupled to a translational kinetic energy harvester, the amplifier boosts small vibration amplitudes by as much as 4x while accom...

We show that it is possible to detect mechanical bending modes on 1μm long ropes of single walled-carbon nanotubes suspended between 2 metallic contacts. This is done by measuring either their dc resistance in a region of strong temperature dependence (in the vicinity of superconducting or metalinsulator transition), or their critical current. The vibrations are excited by a radio-frequency ele...

Piezoelectric materials are attractive as a power source for implanted nanoelectronic systems using the energy generated by weaves alive and physiological or biophysical processes. The study of a piezoelectric thin film sensor and its behavior as mechanical to electrical energy converter is discussed. A piezoelectric polymer—PVDF—was characterized and its physical parameters measured. Besides, ...

The ability to noninvasively detect regional dynamic myocardial damage related to action potentials and mechanical properties affected by heart disease is of great clinical importance. Though there are invaluable clinical tools for diagnosis of a broad range of cardiac conditions, such myocardial properties cannot be evaluated. We have previously shown that pulsive vibration occurs on the myoca...

LIE pulmonary second sound plays an important role in the clinical diagnosis of congenital and acquired heart diseases. Since phonocardiographic recordings from the chest wall present the pulmonary valve sound as part of a composite of sounds produced by 2 valves of the heart, it was our interest to demonstrate the pulmonary sound by direct phonocardiography. Cardiac sounds and murmurs heard an...

The aim of this study was to evaluate if low-frequency, low-magnitude vibrations (LFLM) could enhance chondrogenic differentiation potential of human adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells (hASCs) with simultaneous inhibition of their adipogenic properties for biomedical purposes. We developed a prototype device that induces low-magnitude (0.3 g) low-frequency vibrations with the following freq...

We experimentally study mechanical vibrations in planar Fabry-Perot microcavities made of metallic mirrors and a polymer spacer, using broadband pump-probe spectroscopy. These acoustic waves oscillate at a picosecond time-scale and result in spectral oscillations of the cavity transmission spectrum. We find that the oscillations are initiated at the metal mirrors and that their temporal dynamic...

An electromechanical resonator harboring an atomlike spectrum of discrete mechanical vibrations, namely, phonon modes, has been developed. A purely mechanical three-mode system becomes available in the electromechanical atom in which the energy difference of the two higher modes is resonant with a long-lived lower mode. Our measurements reveal that even an incoherent input into the higher mode ...

Using optical diffraction, we study the mechanical vibrations of an array of micromechanical resonators. Implementing tunable electrostatic coupling between the suspended, doubly-clamped Au beams leads to the formation of a band of collective vibrational modes within these devices. The evolution of these modes with coupling strength is clearly manifested in the optical diffraction pattern of li...

Under physiological conditions, supramolecular biological structures undergo nanoscale mechanical vibrations. Since proteins, which form building units of these structures, are usually highly electrically polar, mechanical oscillations will be accompanied by oscillating electric field. However, molecular modeling methods are not yet able to perform all-atom mechanical simulation of larger struc...