High-sensitivity atomic force microscopy opens up for photosensitive materials

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) brought the atomic scale imaging resolution of scanning tunneling microscopy, a technique that won the Nobel Prize in Physics, to non-conducting surfaces. However, limitations remain when trying to use the technique at its most sensitive with photosensitive samples in liquids. Now researchers at Kanazawa University show how to overcome these constraints, by driving a cantilever a few micrometers in size at megahertz frequencies with stability and control in liquid a...