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Feature

AFM and combined optical techniques

14 August 2009
Nicholas A. Geisse

scanning probe microscopy has undergone rapid development to become an invaluable metric in the physical, biological, and materials sciences. One of the most exciting advances has been the integration of scanning probe techniques with optical microscopy. This paper will describe some of the basics of scanning probe and optical microscopy as well as some of the technical design challenges present when fusing these two imaging modalities. Examples of research problems solved with these combined techniques will be presented, with an emphasis on the advantages that each modality brings to the experiment.

Today, extensive imaging modalities have been implemented on the atomic force microscope (AFM) under the classification of scanning probe microscopy (SPM) techniques. In addition to topographical imaging, SPM has been used to measure magnetic fields, friction gradients, potentials, capacitance, current flow, piezo response, and temperature (to name a few) across a diverse array of samples. Wider commercial availability of user-friendly instrumentation has put the AFM into the hands of more researchers, not only pushing the boundaries of its application in particular fields, but also bringing together scientists at the interfaces between disciplines.

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Characterization  •  Nanotechnology