Multifrequency force microscopy using flexural and torsional modes by photothermal excitation in liquid: atomic resolution imaging of calcite

Abstract

We introduce a new multifrequency atomic force microscopy (AFM) method which involves the excitation of flexural and torsional eigenmodes of the microcantilever probe in liquid environments. The flexural and torsional deflection signals are mostly decoupled in the majority of commercial AFM setups, so they can be relatively easily recorded and processed. The use of torsional modes provides additional surface information at the atomic scale, with respect to flexural mode imaging alone, although the flexural modes are the only ones capable of ‘true’ atomic resolution imaging. In our experiments, the torsional modes are shown to be particularly sensitive to protruding oxygen surface atoms on the calcite plane. The high lateral resolution capability of the flexural modes, combined with the high sensitivity of the torsional modes to specific surface features in liquid environments, can thus offer the means of observing chemical contrast at the atomic level using purely mechanical measurement AFM techniques, even in the absence of tip functionalization.