GOALI: Multi-frequency dynamics in the Atomic Force Microscope

As one of the foremost instruments of nanoscience, the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) is undergoing a remarkable transformation. Where only a decade ago the AFM microcantilever was excited and measured at a single frequency, today’s multi-frequency AFM’s routinely excite and measure the AFM microcantilever at multiple frequencies enabling the AFM’s evolution towards fast, quantitative, functional imaging of nanostructures at high resolution.

With this transformation, AFM images are becoming large, multi-spectral data sets which contain a variety of information about local material properties. Mining and extracting knowledge about local surface properties from these data requires a deep understanding of the physics of the AFM microcantilever interacting with a variety of surfaces in multi-frequency excitation settings.

To address the above challenges, we propose a comprehensive theoretical and experimental research and outreach program to significantly advance the state-of-the art of multi-frequency AFM through a collaboration between Purdue, Oxford Instruments-Asylum, a leader in the multi-frequency AFM market, and KTH, Sweden.