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AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsRyo Kuroda, Katsunori Hatanaka, Toshihiko Miyazaki, Takayuki Yagi, Toshimitsu Kawase, Katsuhiko Shinjo
Estimating the term…
A cantilever unit comprises a cantilever for supporting a probe and a displacement amount detecting means, the displacement amount detecting means being integrated with the cantilever. An information processing apparatus comprises the cantilever unit and optionally an information recording medium stationed in close vicinity to the unit, wherein an information in the medium is reproduced at a signal on the basis of an displacement amount of the cantilever. An atomic force microscope and magnetic force microscope comprise the cantilever unit, respectively.
A cantilever unit comprising a substrate, a cantilever having a fixed end and a free end, said fixed end being supported by said substrate and said free end being displaceable due to elastic distortion of said cantilever by application of a force thereto, an optical waveguide provided on said cantilever and said substrate, a light source for introducing a light beam into said optical waveguide, and means for detecting a change of the optical path of the light beam transmitted in said optical waveguide caused by a change of the refractive index of said optical waveguide due to elastic distortion of said cantilever.
A cantilever unit comprising a first substrate, a second substrate mounted on said first substrate, a cantilever having a fixed end and a free end, said fixed end being supported by said second substrate and said free end being displaceable due to elastic distortion of said cantilever by application of a force thereto, said cantilever being kept apart from said first substrate in the direction of the elastic distortion, an optical waveguide provided on said first substrate, a light source for introducing a light beam into said optical waveguide, a first coupler provide in the optical waveguide for capturing the light beam transmitted through the optical waveguide and projecting the captured light beam against the cantilever, a second coupler provided in the optical waveguide for reintroducing the light beam reflected from the cantilever, and means for detecting a change of the optical path of the light beam due to elastic distortion of said cantilever.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.