Observation of Tunable Opto-Mechanical Responsivity in Two-Dimensional Semiconducting Nanoelectromechanical Resonators

Nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) based on two-dimensional (2D) materials typically have motional parts that are atomically-thin, with displacement in the picometer range or even smaller. When measuring the nanomechanical device motion, a key challenge is to optimize the signal transduction efficiency (responsivity) in order to best detect the infinitesimal motion. Here we demonstrate tuning of the responsivity in optically-transduced atomically-thin NEMS resonators, by controlling the device deflection and thus profiles, and demonstrate the importance of optimizing the measurement condition.