Scanning local-acceleration microscopy

Abstract

By adapting a scanning force microscope to operate at frequencies above the highest tip–sample resonance, the sensitivity of the microscope to materials’ properties is greatly enhanced. The cantilever’s behavior in response to high-frequency excitation from a transducer underneath the sample is fundamentally different than to its low-frequency response. In this article, the motivations, instrumentation, theory, and first results for this technique are described.