Nanomechanical displacement detection using coherent transport in graphene nanoribbon resonators

Graphene nanoribbons provide an opportunity to integrate phase-coherent transport phenomena with nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS). Due to the strain induced by a deflection in a graphene nanoribbon resonator, coherent electron transport and mechanical deformations couple. This coupling can be used for sensitive displacement detection in both armchair and zigzag graphene nanoribbon NEMS. Here it is shown that for ordered as well as disordered ribbon systems of length L, a strain epsilon similar to (w/L)(2) due to a deflection w leads to a relative change in conductance delta G/G similar to (w(2)/a(0)L), where a(0) approximate to 1.4 angstrom