Development of dual-probe atomic force microscopy system using optical beam deflection sensors with obliquely incident laser beams

We developed a dual-probe (DP) atomic force microscopy (AFM) system that has two independently controlled probes. The deflection of each cantilever is measured by the optical beam deflection (OBD) method. In order to keep a large space over the two probes for an objective lens with a large numerical aperture, we employed the OBD sensors with obliquely incident laser beams. In this paper, we describe the details of our developed DP-AFM system, including analysis of the sensitivity of the OBD sensor for detection of the cantilever deflection. We also describe a method to eliminate the crosstalk caused by the vertical translation of the cantilever. In addition, we demonstrate simultaneous topographic imaging of a test sample by the two probes and surface potential measurement on an alpha-sexithiophene (alpha-6T) thin film by one probe while electrical charges were injected by the other probe. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3534830]