Related papers: Force-noise spectroscopy by tunnelling current def…
A general analysis of thermal noise in torsion pendulums is presented. The specific case where the torsion angle is kept fixed by electronic feedback is analyzed. This analysis is applied to a recent experiment that employed a torsion…
Thermal fluctuation of the cantilever position sets a fundamental limit for the precision of any Scanning Force Microscope. In the present work we analyse how these fluctuations limit the determination of the resonance frequency of the…
Since the advent of atomic force microscopy, mechanical resonators have been used to study a wide variety of phenomena, such as the dynamics of individual electron spins, persistent currents in normal metal rings, and the Casimir force. Key…
Having a priori knowledge of the force acting on a noisy system it is possible to solve the issue relative to the interpretation of multiplicative noise terms (aka Ito-Stratonovich dilemma). We experimentally show that for a Brownian…
We demonstrate AFM imaging with a microcantilever force transducer where an integrated superconducting microwave resonant circuit detects cantilever deflection using the principles of cavity optomechanics. We discuss the detector…
Planar, double-torsional oscillators are especially suitable for short-range macroscopic force search experiments, since they can be operated at the limit of instrumental thermal noise. As a study of this limit, we report a measurement of…
A comprehensive study of a force detected single-spin magnetic resonance measurement concept with atomic spatial resolution is presented. The method is based upon electrostatic force detection of spin-selection rule controlled…
Force detectors rely on resonators to transduce forces into a readable signal. Usually these resonators operate in the linear regime and their signal appears amidst a competing background comprising thermal or quantum fluctuations as well…
A spreadsheet algorithm is given for the atomic force microscope that accounts for non-linear behavior in the deflection of the cantilever and in the photo-diode response. In addition, the data analysis algorithm takes into account…
We present a simple theoretical framework to describe the thermal noise of a microscopic mechanical beam in a viscous fluid: we use the Sader approach to describe the effect of the surrounding fluid (added mass and viscous drag), and the…
The reliable operation of micro and nanomechanical devices necessitates a thorough knowledge of the water film thickness present on the surfaces of these devices with an accuracy in the nm range. In this work, the thickness of an ultra-thin…
We demonstrate thermally limited force spectroscopy using a probe formed by a dielectric microsphere optically trapped in water near a dielectric surface. We achieve force resolution below 1 fN in 100 s, corresponding to a 2 {\AA} rms…
Current fluctuations related to the discreteness of charge passing through small constrictions are termed shot noise. This unavoidable noise provides both advantages - being a direct measurement of the transmitted particles' charge, and…
Quantum mechanics can strongly influence the noise properties of mesoscopic devices. To probe this effect we have measured the current fluctuations at high-frequency (5-90 GHz) using a superconductor-insulator-superconductor tunnel junction…
Commercial atomic force microscopes usually use a four-segmented photodiode to detect the motion of the cantilever via laser beam deflection. This read-out technique enables to measure bending and torsion of the cantilever separately. A…
Quantum mechanics can strongly influence the noise properties of mesoscopic devices. To probe this effect we have measured the current fluctuations at high-frequency (5-90G Hz) using a superconductor-insulator-superconductor tunnel junction…
Nanometer-scale structures with high aspect ratio such as nanowires and nanotubes combine low mechanical dissipation with high resonance frequencies, making them ideal force transducers and scanning probes in applications requiring the…
Cooling down nanomechanical force probes is a generic strategy to enhance their sensitivities through the concomitant reduction of their thermal noise and mechanical damping rates. However, heat conduction mechanisms become less efficient…
Nanomechanical oscillators have been employed as transducers to measure force, mass and charge with high sensitivity. They are also used in opto- or electromechanical experiments with the goal of quantum control and phenomena of mechanical…
We investigate the capillary force that applies on a tilted cylinder as a function of its dipping angle i, using a home-built tilting Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) with custom made probes. A micrometric-size rod is glued at the end of an…