Fabrication of resonant sensors with significantly improved sensitivity through strong mechanical coupling

Abstract

We are reporting on the first use of strongly coupled resonator arrays to improve the sensitivity of sensor systems to single or multiple inputs. A novel physics-based model is developed to investigate the effect of perturbations on the eigenvalues of resonator arrays, which demonstrates the improvements in sensitivity as the coupling strength between the resonators is increased. The developed theory is employed to design strongly-coupled resonant sensor systems. Sample devices were fabricated in a custom fabrication process. Experimental results were used to validate the theoretical model, demonstrating a seven fold improvement in the sensitivity of the fabricated devices.