title: Cross-talk correction in atomic force microscopy.
abstract: Commercial atomic force microscopes usually use a position-sensitive photodiode to detect the motion of the cantilever via laser beam deflection. This readout technique makes it possible to measure bending and torsion of the cantilever separately. A slight angle between the orientation of the photodiode and the plane of the readout laser beam, however, causes false signals in both readout channels. This cross-talk may lead to misinterpretation of the acquired data. We demonstrate this fault with images recorded in contact mode on periodically poled ferroelectric crystals and present a simple electronic circuit to compensate for it. This circuit can correct for cross-talk with a bandwidth of approximately 1 MHz suppressing the the false signal to <<1%.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physics, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jungk
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Soergel
mesh_terms: D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force / Q000379:methods