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Feedback-induced instability in tapping mode atomic force microscopy: theory and experiment

Paper explores, for first time, effect of control loop on tapping-mode atomic force microscopy, as widely used in commercial atomic force microscopes. It derives and analyses a mathematical model, including surface forces and closed-loop controller. Model predicts previously unseen imaging artefacts, even on flat surface, that were subsequently observed experimentally. Model shows how to eliminate such noise and this was also confirmed experimentally. Paper directly led to 2009 invited presentation at Imperial College London [tinyurl.com/gen-eng-101], mini-symposium at 2011 SIAM Applications of Dynamical Systems [tinyurl.com/gen-eng-102], and invited research visit (Purdue University, 2010).