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The QPlus Machine

The QPlus system Our newest ultrahigh-vacuum system is a low-temperature STM/AFM. For nc-AFM (non-contact atomic force microscopy) mode, it uses the so-called QPlus sensor, which is a tiny quartz tuning fork with an even tinier tip glued to the end of one of its prongs.

Since the machine is situated in the 5th floor in a noisy city environment, it needs a vibration isolation system: We have suspended the one-metric-ton machine from the ceiling on 36 bungee cords!

We are still working on improving the preamplifier for the quartz crystal readout. Nevertheless, first results obtained with the system look extremely promising!

surface/qplus.1454582686.txt.gz · Last modified: 2016-02-04 11:44 by Michael Schmid