Measuring electric field induced subpicometer displacement of step edge ions.
We provide unambiguous evidence that the applied electrostatic field displaces step atoms of ionic crystal surfaces by subpicometers in different directions via the measurement of the lateral force interactions by bimodal dynamic force microscopy combined with multiscale theoretical simulations. Such a small imbalance in the electrostatic interaction of the shifted anion-cation ions leads to an extraordinary long-range feature potential variation and is now detectable with the extreme sensitivity of the bimodal detection.
Department of Physics, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 82, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland. shigeki.kawai@unibas.ch
Shigeki
S
Kawai
Filippo Federici
FF
Canova
Thilo
T
Glatzel
Teemu
T
Hynninen
Ernst
E
Meyer
Adam S
AS
Foster