Noise activated switching in a driven, nonlinear micromechanical oscillator

We study noise induced switching in systems far from equilibrium by using an underdamped micromechanical torsional oscillator driven into the nonlinear regime. Within a certain range of driving frequencies, the oscillator possesses two stable dynamical states with different oscillation amplitudes. We induce the oscillator to escape from one dynamical state into the other by introducing noise in the excitation. By measuring the rate of random transitions as a function of noise intensity, we deduce the activation energy as a function of frequency detuning. Close to the critical point, the activation energy is expected to display system-independent scaling. The measured critical exponent is in good agreement with variational calculations and asymptotic scaling theory.