Ultrasensitive Magnetometers Based on Carbon-Nanotube Mechanical Resonators

We describe herein how a nanoelectromechanical system based on a carbon nanotube used as a force sensor can enable one to assess the magnetic properties of a single and very small nano-object grafted onto the nanotube. Numerical simulations performed within the framework of the Euler-Bernoulli theory of beams predict that the magnetic field dependence of the nanotube mechanical resonance frequency is a direct probe for the nano-object magnetic properties and that a sensitivity around a few (few hundreds) Bohr magnetic moments at low temperature (room temperature) can be expected.