18,646 research outputs found
Imaging Ferroelectric Domains via Charge Gradient Microscopy Enhanced by Principal Component Analysis
Local domain structures of ferroelectrics have been studied extensively using
various modes of scanning probes at the nanoscale, including piezoresponse
force microscopy (PFM) and Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM), though none of
these techniques measure the polarization directly, and the fast formation
kinetics of domains and screening charges cannot be captured by these
quasi-static measurements. In this study, we used charge gradient microscopy
(CGM) to image ferroelectric domains of lithium niobate based on current
measured during fast scanning, and applied principal component analysis (PCA)
to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio of noisy raw data. We found that the CGM
signal increases linearly with the scan speed while decreases with the
temperature under power-law, consistent with proposed imaging mechanisms of
scraping and refilling of surface charges within domains, and polarization
change across domain wall. We then, based on CGM mappings, estimated the
spontaneous polarization and the density of surface charges with order of
magnitude agreement with literature data. The study demonstrates that PCA is a
powerful method in imaging analysis of scanning probe microscopy (SPM), with
which quantitative analysis of noisy raw data becomes possible
Quantum metrology and its application in biology
Quantum metrology provides a route to overcome practical limits in sensing
devices. It holds particular relevance to biology, where sensitivity and
resolution constraints restrict applications both in fundamental biophysics and
in medicine. Here, we review quantum metrology from this biological context,
focusing on optical techniques due to their particular relevance for biological
imaging, sensing, and stimulation. Our understanding of quantum mechanics has
already enabled important applications in biology, including positron emission
tomography (PET) with entangled photons, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using
nuclear magnetic resonance, and bio-magnetic imaging with superconducting
quantum interference devices (SQUIDs). In quantum metrology an even greater
range of applications arise from the ability to not just understand, but to
engineer, coherence and correlations at the quantum level. In the past few
years, quite dramatic progress has been seen in applying these ideas into
biological systems. Capabilities that have been demonstrated include enhanced
sensitivity and resolution, immunity to imaging artifacts and technical noise,
and characterization of the biological response to light at the single-photon
level. New quantum measurement techniques offer even greater promise, raising
the prospect for improved multi-photon microscopy and magnetic imaging, among
many other possible applications. Realization of this potential will require
cross-disciplinary input from researchers in both biology and quantum physics.
In this review we seek to communicate the developments of quantum metrology in
a way that is accessible to biologists and biophysicists, while providing
sufficient detail to allow the interested reader to obtain a solid
understanding of the field. We further seek to introduce quantum physicists to
some of the central challenges of optical measurements in biological science.Comment: Submitted review article, comments and suggestions welcom
Functionalized AFM probes for force spectroscopy: eigenmodes shape and stiffness calibration through thermal noise measurements
The functionalization of an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) cantilever with a
colloidal bead is a widely used technique when the geometry between the probe
and the sample must be controlled, particularly in force spectroscopy. But some
questions remain: how does a bead glued at the end of a cantilever influence
its mechanical response ? And more important for quantitative measurements, can
we still determine the stiffness of the AFM probe with traditional techniques?
In this article, the influence of a colloidal mass loading on the eigenmodes
shape and resonant frequency is investigated by measuring the thermal noise on
rectangular AFM microcantilevers with and without a bead attached at their
extremities. The experiments are performed with a home-made ultra-sensitive
AFM, based on differential interferometry. The focused beam from the
interferometer probes the cantilever at different positions and the spatial
shapes of the modes are determined up to the fifth resonance, without external
excitation. The results clearly demonstrate that the first eigenmode almost
doesn't change by mass loading. However the oscillation behavior of higher
resonances present a marked difference: with a particle glued at its extremity,
the nodes of the mode are displaced towards the free end of the cantilever.
These results are compared to an analytical model taking into account the mass
and the inertial moment of the load in an Euler-Bernoulli framework, where the
normalization of the eigenmodes is explicitly worked out in order to allow a
quantitative prediction of the thermal noise amplitude of each mode. A good
agreement between the experimental results and the analytical model is
demonstrated, allowing a clean calibration of the probe stiffness
Maximum-Likelihood Sequence Detector for Dynamic Mode High Density Probe Storage
There is an increasing need for high density data storage devices driven by
the increased demand of consumer electronics. In this work, we consider a data
storage system that operates by encoding information as topographic profiles on
a polymer medium. A cantilever probe with a sharp tip (few nm radius) is used
to create and sense the presence of topographic profiles, resulting in a
density of few Tb per in.2. The prevalent mode of using the cantilever probe is
the static mode that is harsh on the probe and the media. In this article, the
high quality factor dynamic mode operation, that is less harsh on the media and
the probe, is analyzed. The read operation is modeled as a communication
channel which incorporates system memory due to inter-symbol interference and
the cantilever state. We demonstrate an appropriate level of abstraction of
this complex nanoscale system that obviates the need for an involved physical
model. Next, a solution to the maximum likelihood sequence detection problem
based on the Viterbi algorithm is devised. Experimental and simulation results
demonstrate that the performance of this detector is several orders of
magnitude better than the performance of other existing schemes.Comment: This paper is published in IEEE Trans. on communicatio
Systems approach based solution to fundamental limitations in unraveling spatial and temporal regimes in nano-interrogation and nano-positioning
A design scheme that achieves an optimal tip-sample force regulation with an ideal topography image reconstruction is presented. It addresses the problem of obtaining accurate sample profiles when scanning at high bandwidth while maintaining a constant cantilever-tip sample force in atomic force microscopes. It is shown that the proposed scheme provides a faithful replica of the sample at all relevant scanning speeds limited only by the inaccuracy in the model for the atomic force microscope. This provides an improvement over existing designs where the sample profile reconstruction is typically bandwidth limited. The experimental results corroborate the theoretical development.;Conventional imaging signals such as the amplitude signal and the vertical piezoactuation signal cannot identify the areas of probe loss, where dynamic atomic force microscopy based image where the cantilever fails to be an effective probe of the sample. A real-time methodology is developed to determine regions of probe loss. It is experimentally demonstrated that probe-loss affected portion of the image can be unambiguously identified by a real-time signal called reliability index. Reliability index, apart from indicating the probe-loss affected regions, can be used to minimize probe-loss affected regions of the image, thus aiding high speed AFM applications.;A new immobilization technique for quantitative imaging and topographic characterization of living yeast cells in solid media using Atomic force microscope (AFM) is presented. Unlike previous techniques, proposed technique allows almost complete cell surface to be exposed to environment and studied using AFM. Apart from the new immobilization protocol, in this report, for the first time, high resolution height imaging of live yeast cell surface in intermittent contact mode is presented. High resolution imaging and significant improvement in operational stability facilitated investigation of growth patterns and evolution of surface morphology in quantitative terms. Growth rate of mother cell and budding cell showed distinct patterns over the imaging time
Force-induced acoustic phonon transport across single-digit nanometre vacuum gaps
Heat transfer between bodies separated by nanoscale vacuum gap distances has
been extensively studied for potential applications in thermal management,
energy conversion and data storage. For vacuum gap distances down to 20 nm,
state-of-the-art experiments demonstrated that heat transport is mediated by
near-field thermal radiation, which can exceed Planck's blackbody limit due to
the tunneling of evanescent electromagnetic waves. However, at sub-10-nm vacuum
gap distances, current measurements are in disagreement on the mechanisms
driving thermal transport. While it has been hypothesized that acoustic phonon
transport across single-digit nanometre vacuum gaps (or acoustic phonon
tunneling) can dominate heat transfer, the underlying physics of this
phenomenon and its experimental demonstration are still unexplored. Here, we
use a custom-built high-vacuum shear force microscope (HV-SFM) to measure heat
transfer between a silicon (Si) tip and a feedback-controlled platinum (Pt)
nanoheater in the near-contact, asperity-contact, and bulk-contact regimes. We
demonstrate that in the near-contact regime (i.e., single-digit nanometre or
smaller vacuum gaps before making asperity contact), heat transfer between Si
and Pt surfaces is dominated by force-induced acoustic phonon transport that
exceeds near-field thermal radiation predictions by up to three orders of
magnitude. The measured thermal conductance shows a gap dependence of
in the near-contact regime, which is consistent with acoustic
phonon transport modelling based on the atomistic Green's function (AGF)
framework. Our work suggests the possibility of engineering heat transfer
across single-digit nanometre vacuum gaps with external force stimuli, which
can make transformative impacts to the development of emerging thermal
management technologies.Comment: 9 pages with 4 figures (Main text), 13 pages with 7 figures
(Methods), and 13 pages with 6 figures and 1 table (Supplementary
Information
Data acquisition and imaging using wavelet transform: a new path for high speed transient force microscopy
The unique ability of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) to image, manipulate and characterize materials at the nanoscale has made it a remarkable tool in nanotechnology. In dynamic AFM, acquisition and processing of the photodetector signal originating from probe–sample interaction is a critical step in data analysis and measurements. However, details of such interaction including its nonlinearity and dynamics of the sample surface are limited due to the ultimately bounded bandwidth and limited time scales of data processing electronics of standard AFM. Similarly, transient details of the AFM probe's cantilever signal are lost due to averaging of data by techniques which correlate the frequency spectrum of the captured data with a temporally invariant physical system. Here, we introduce a fundamentally new approach for dynamic AFM data acquisition and imaging based on applying the wavelet transform on the data stream from the photodetector. This approach provides the opportunity for exploration of the transient response of the cantilever, analysis and imaging of the dynamics of amplitude and phase of the signals captured from the photodetector. Furthermore, it can be used for the control of AFM which would yield increased imaging speed. Hence the proposed method opens a pathway for high-speed transient force microscopy
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