Developing nanoscale inertial measurement systems with carbon nanotube oscillators

We have developed a conceptual design for an inertial measurement system using the oscillatory characteristics of carbon nanotube (CNT) oscillators with or without fillings, and performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to investigate its dynamic operations. In the operations, the instantaneous equilibrium position, which is uniquely related to the rotation, is traced by monitoring the variations of the tip-surface capacitance, i.e., the capacitance between a spherical cap of the oscillating CNT and an adjacent metallic plate. The MD simulations for the three model systems: the (5, 5)&(10, 10) CNT system, and the (10, 10)&(15, 15) CNT system with copper and gold fillings, respectively, show that the induced variations of the tip-surface capacitance can be significantly enhanced by increasing the size and the weight of the oscillating core of such an inertial measurement system.