Decoupled optical force nanoscopy
AssigneeThe Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
InventorsYang Zhao, Yun-Sheng Chen, Hanwei Wang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Decoupled optical force nanoscopy allows for measurements of optical forces with nanoscale spatial and temporal resolution. A sample is illuminated with temporally modulated laser light. Optical force data are measured by scanning a cantilever (e.g., of a scanning probe microscope) over the sample to measure optical forces generated by illuminating the sample with the temporally modulated laser light. The optical force data are analyzed in the frequency domain to separate the optical force data into different components, such as photothermal force components, optical gradient force components, photoacoustic force components, and the like.
Claims13
A method for optical force nanoscopy, comprising:
- (a) exciting a sample with an excitation light source modulated in the time domain;
- (b) generating optical force data by measuring, by a scanning probe microscope, optical forces from the sample generated by exciting the sample with the excitation light source;
- (c) generating photothermal force data by processing the optical force data with a computer system to separate photothermal force measurements from measurements of other optical force components based on a phase distribution of the optical force data;
- and
- (d) storing the photothermal force data with the computer system.
A method for decoupled optical force nanoscopy, comprising:
- (a) illuminating a sample with temporally modulated laser light;
- (b) acquiring optical force data by scanning a cantilever over the sample to measure optical forces generated by illuminating the sample with the temporally modulated laser light;
- (c) analyzing the optical force data in a frequency domain to separate the optical force data into different components;
- and
- (d) storing the separated components of the optical force data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.