{
  "abstract": "Hybrid nanomaterial platforms that combine mechanically compliant two-dimensional membranes with optically active quantum emitters offer an attractive route towards ultrasensitive particle detection. Here, we investigate a sensor concept based on a graphene membrane suspended over a nanoscale aperture and functionalised with fluorescent nanodiamonds. The impact of an incoming atom transfers momentum to the membrane and excites an out-of-plane mechanical motion, which is transduced into an optical signal through the nanodiamond fluorescence. We develop a quantitative upper-bound model linking atomic momentum transfer, the mechanical response of the nanodiamond-loaded membrane, and the resulting optical transduction. Design maps for the mechanical resonance frequency and collision-induced oscillation amplitude reveal single-impact displacements in the femtometre-to-sub-picometre range for helium atoms. Even under favourable mechanical, collision, and optical conditions, the corresponding relative fluorescence modulation remains below 10−6 throughout the investigated parameter space and reaches only a few 10−7 under the most favourable conditions. Combined with photon-counting statistics, these results show that direct fluorescence-intensity detection of individual atomic impacts is impractical in the considered configuration. Importantly, the analysis identifies optical displacement transduction, rather than the absence of a mechanical response, as the principal limitation. The predicted absolute displacements approach the scale accessible to state-of-the-art graphene optomechanical measurements, making interferometric or cavity-based displacement readout a more promising direction, although single-impact detectability remains dependent on bandwidth and noise. Our results establish quantitative feasibility bounds for graphene-nanodiamond atomic-impact sensors and identify the readout mechanism as the central design parameter for future hybrid nano-mechanical sensing architectures.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen Allegaten 55 Bergen 5007 Norway"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Johannes Fiedler",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2179-0625"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Sabrina D. Eder",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3266-9089"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Justas Zalieckas",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6717-5214"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/epe0jvg9wz0q1.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1039/d6na00363j",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13592093/",
  "id": "epe0jvg9wz0q1",
  "issns": [
    "2516-0230"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1039/d6na00363j",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-3.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 3.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Chemistry"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3107|Mechanical and Optical Resonators"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7213458385",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": "PMC13592093",
  "pmid": "42769596",
  "published": "2026-09-17",
  "publisher": "Royal Society of Chemistry",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/epe0jvg9wz0q1.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-31T12:20:59Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13592093",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1039/d6na00363j"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "openalex:3107|Mechanical and Optical Resonators",
      "subfield": "optics-photonics"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Graphene-nanodiamond membranes for atomic-impact sensing: design and fluorescence readout limits",
  "title_text": "Graphene-nanodiamond membranes for atomic-impact sensing: design and fluorescence readout limits",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-31T12:20:59Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/epe0jvg9wz0q1",
  "venue": "Nanoscale Advances",
  "versions": []
}