High Q optical fiber tips for NC-AFM in liquid.
Non-contact atomic force microscopy is rapidly expanding from ultra-high vacuum to include the study of surfaces and biomolecules in liquids by high resolution imaging and force spectroscopy. This is despite the additional frequency shift noise due to the inherently low Q factor of the cantilever oscillating in a liquid. In this paper we present a tip based on an optical fiber which can operate in liquid with Q factors in excess of 100 using a 'diving bell' arrangement which allows only a small portion of the tip to be submerged. We demonstrate stable imaging and force spectroscopy using this set-up. The tips are based on scanning near-field optical microscopy tips and, when used with NC-AFM, provide a method of combining both high resolution mechanical and fluorescence studies of biomolecules and cells.
LeDue
J M
JM
Center for the Physics of Materials and Department of Physics, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 2T8, Canada. jeffrey.ledue@mcgill.ca
Lopez-Ayon
M
M
Burke
S A
SA
Miyahara
Y
Y
Grütter
P
P
D004867:Equipment Design; D005898:Glass / Q000737:chemistry; D008055:Lipids / Q000737:chemistry; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D055100:Optical Fibers; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
D008055:Lipids; D014867:Water