Making a Point: Picoscale Stability in a Room-Temperature AFM

(PhysOrg.com) -- Forget dancing angels, a research team from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado (CU) has shown how to detect and monitor the tiny amount of light reflected directly off the needle point of an atomic force microscope probe, and in so doing has demonstrated a 100-fold improvement in the stability of the instrument’s measurements under ambient conditions. Their recently reported work* potentially affects a broad range of research from nanomanufacturing to biology, where sensitive, atomic-scale measurements must be made at room temperature in liquids.

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<p><a href="http://www.physorg.com/news157206337.html">Making a Point: Picoscale Stability in a Room-Temperature AFM</a></p> <p>(PhysOrg.com) -- Forget dancing angels, a research team from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado (CU) has shown how to detect and monitor the tiny amount of light reflected directly off the needle point of an atomic force microscope probe, and in so doing has demonstrated a 100-fold improvement in the stability of the instrument’s measurements under ambient conditions. Their recently reported work* potentially affects a broad range of research from nanomanufacturing to biology, where sensitive, atomic-scale measurements must be made at room temperature in liquids.</p>