  Nano-mechanical resonators have gained an increasing importance in
nanotechnology owing to their contributions to both fundamental and applied
science. Yet, their small dimensions and mass raises some challenges as their
dynamics gets dominated by nonlinearities that degrade their performance, for
instance in sensing applications. Here, we report on the precise control of the
nonlinear and stochastic bistable dynamics of a levitated nanoparticle in high
vacuum. We demonstrate how it can lead to efficient signal amplification
schemes, including stochastic resonance. This work paves the way for the use of
levitated nanoparticles as a model system for stochastic bistable dynamics,
with applications to a wide variety of fields.
