A method of timing a resonant frequency of a nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) drum device is performed by applying a gate voltage between the drum membrane [100] and a back gate [104] to alter the resonant frequency of the membrane to a desired frequency; photoionizing the drum membrane with a laser to detune the membrane resonant frequency to a ground state frequency; and releasing the gate voltage to set the membrane to the desired resonant frequency. The method provides the basis for various applications including NEMS memory and photodetection techniques. The NEMS device may be implemented as a graphene/hBN membrane [100] suspended on a Si02 layer [102] deposited on a Si substrate [104].