Force Microscopy

Researchers

Maoz Ovadia, Jessie Zhang

Instrument Design

We have constructed a custom variable temperature force microscope with the following features:

• Vibration isolation: floating room, floating table, internal suspension from damped springs.
• Temperature: 2K to above 340K
• Magnetic field: 5 Tesla vertical
• Scan Range: 35μm scan at room temperature;
  several mm coarse (x,y,z) motion of sample with respect to tip
• Cantilever position detection:
  fiber optic interferometer with λ=1550nm diode laser;
  position noise better than 2×10^-3 Å/√Hz
• Geometry: allows either horizontal or vertical cantilever orientation

The principle advantage of this instrument is its flexibility; we can utilize a variety of scanning probe measurements to study different interactions with the sample.