All mechanical mixing by means of orthogonally coupled cantilevers

An all mechanical signal mixing device is described which uses only linear springs as fundamental building blocks. Two input oscillators are coupled to an orthogonally vibrating output oscillator via a linear spring, which results in an effective nonlinear multiplicative mixing function. Numerical simulations have been performed for studying the performance characteristics of the mixer. A modified version of the mixer acting as a mechanical modulator is also numerically investigated for application as a mechanical power amplifier. The viability of the concept is demonstrated in a centimeter scale experimental setup and a micromechanical scale polymer embodiment has been built using two-photon polymerization lithographic methods. © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschan.