dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaNoncontact atomic force microscopy simulator with phase-locked-loop controlled frequency detection and excitation
| Authors | Laurent Nony, Alexis Prof. Baratoff, Dominique Schaer, Oliver Pfeiffer, Adrian Wezel, Ernst Meyer |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0701343 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0701343 |
| DOI | 10.1103/PhysRevB.74.235439 |
| Journal | Physical Review B 74 (26/12/2006) 235439 |
Abstract
A simulation of an atomic force microscope operating in the constant amplitude dynamic mode is described. The implementation mimics the electronics of a real setup including a digital phase-locked loop (PLL). The PLL is not only used as a very sensitive frequency detector, but also to generate the time-dependent phase shifted signal driving the cantilever. The optimum adjustments of individual functional blocks and their joint performance in typical experiments are determined in detail. Prior to testing the complete setup, the performances of the numerical PLL and of the amplitude controller were ascertained to be satisfactory compared to those of the real components. Attention is also focused on the issue of apparent dissipation, that is, of spurious variations in the driving amplitude caused by the nonlinear interaction occurring between the tip and the surface and by the finite response times of the various controllers. To do so, an estimate of the minimum dissipated energy that is detectable by the instrument upon operating conditions is given. This allows us to discuss the relevance of apparent dissipation that can be conditionally generated with the simulator in comparison to values reported experimentally. The analysis emphasizes that apparent dissipation can contribute to the measured dissipation up to 15% of the intrinsic dissipated energy of the cantilever interacting with the surface, but can be made negligible when properly adjusting the controllers, the PLL gains and the scan speed. It is inferred that the experimental values of dissipation usually reported in the literature cannot only originate in apparent dissipation, which favors the hypothesis of "physical" channels of dissipation.
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"abstract": "A simulation of an atomic force microscope operating in the constant\namplitude dynamic mode is described. The implementation mimics the electronics\nof a real setup including a digital phase-locked loop (PLL). The PLL is not\nonly used as a very sensitive frequency detector, but also to generate the\ntime-dependent phase shifted signal driving the cantilever. The optimum\nadjustments of individual functional blocks and their joint performance in\ntypical experiments are determined in detail. Prior to testing the complete\nsetup, the performances of the numerical PLL and of the amplitude controller\nwere ascertained to be satisfactory compared to those of the real components.\nAttention is also focused on the issue of apparent dissipation, that is, of\nspurious variations in the driving amplitude caused by the nonlinear\ninteraction occurring between the tip and the surface and by the finite\nresponse times of the various controllers. To do so, an estimate of the minimum\ndissipated energy that is detectable by the instrument upon operating\nconditions is given. This allows us to discuss the relevance of apparent\ndissipation that can be conditionally generated with the simulator in\ncomparison to values reported experimentally. The analysis emphasizes that\napparent dissipation can contribute to the measured dissipation up to 15% of\nthe intrinsic dissipated energy of the cantilever interacting with the surface,\nbut can be made negligible when properly adjusting the controllers, the PLL\ngains and the scan speed. It is inferred that the experimental values of\ndissipation usually reported in the literature cannot only originate in\napparent dissipation, which favors the hypothesis of \"physical\" channels of\ndissipation.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0701343",
"authors": [
"Laurent Nony",
"Alexis Prof. Baratoff",
"Dominique Schaer",
"Oliver Pfeiffer",
"Adrian Wezel",
"Ernst Meyer"
],
"categories": [
"physics.atm-clus"
],
"doi": "10.1103/PhysRevB.74.235439",
"journal_ref": "Physical Review B 74 (26/12/2006) 235439",
"title": "Noncontact atomic force microscopy simulator with phase-locked-loop controlled frequency detection and excitation",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0701343"
},
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