Optical force microscopy: combining light with atomic force microscopy for nanomaterial identification

Abstract

Scanning probe techniques have evolved significantly in recent years to detect surface morphology of materials down to subnanometer resolution, but without revealing spectroscopic information. In this review, we discuss recent advances in scanning probe techniques that capitalize on light-induced forces for studying nanomaterials down to molecular specificities with nanometer spatial resolution.

Keywords

• atomic force microscopy (afm)
• chirality
• nanostructures
• optical forces
• polarization
• structured light