Band excitation, a new family of scanning probe microscopy, moves the field towards probing energy transformation at the nanoscale, say the developers. Conventional scanning probe microscopes measure the cantilever's movements over the surface of a material at only one single frequency. Band excitation excites and detects response over a continuous band of frequencies, rapidly measuring the frequency response of the system at every point in an image. The technology's ability to measure energy dissipation means it has potential use in any application for better understanding energy loss processes. The work could lead to energy-efficient nano- and molecular scale devices and materials for electricity generation, transportation or solar power conversion.
Menu