Transition of Electromechanical Pendulum into Nonlinear Response

We present measurements on a macroscopic electron shuttle in the regime of nonlinear response. The shuttle is formed by a classical mechanical pendulum situated between two capacitor plates. The main advantage of this macroscopic setup is that we can directly measure the onset of nonlinear response of this electromechanical pendulum exhibiting period doubling. The results will find use in application such as bifurcation amplifier in nanoscopic versions of the device. A model nanoelectromechanical device based on the macroscopic experiment has the potential to reveal nonlinear quantum mechanical effects.