Dresden 2017 – scientific programme

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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 97: Nanostructures at Surfaces: Molecular Systems II

O 97.1: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 23, 2017, 15:00–15:30, REC/PHY C213

The challenge of atomic resolution in liquid and ambient conditions with AFM — •Alfred J. Weymouth — University of Regensburg, Germany

Since the invention of the atomic force microscope, there has been substantial drive to image in ambient and liquid environments. One challenge in these environments is atomic resolution. Keeping surfaces clean in vacuum, combined with cryogenic temperatures to lower both the instrumental noise and thermal drift, makes force microscopy easier. We have had great success with stiff sensors and frequency-modulation AFM. With these techniques, we are returning to the challenge of imaging samples in device- and biologically-relevant conditions.

We demonstrated atomic resolution with the qPlus sensor on KBr [1], and followed this with investigations on graphitic surfaces [2]. In order to better understand our data of HOPG we conducted a parallel investigation in UHV. We have also started to study biological samples: Working with Daniel Müller’s group, we imaged a protein membrane in a liquid drop. More recently, we have imaged mica with atomic resolution in a liquid cell in a variety of solutions.

[1] Wastl et. al., Phys. Rev. B, 87, 245415 (2013)

[2] Wastl et. al., ACS Nano, 8, 5233 (2014)