Imaging material properties of biological samples with a Force Feedback Microscope

Abstract

Mechanical properties of biological samples have been imaged with a \textit{Force Feedback Microscope}. Force, force gradient and dissipation are measured simultaneously and quantitatively, merely knowing the AFM cantilever spring constant. Our first results demonstrate that this robust method provides quantitative high resolution force measurements of the interaction The little oscillation imposed to the cantilever and the small value of its stiffness result in a vibrational energy much smaller than the thermal energy, reducing the interaction with the sample to a minimum. We show that the observed mechanical properties of the sample depend on the force applied by the tip and consequently on the sample indentation. Moreover, the frequency of the excitation imposed to the cantilever can be chosen arbitrarily, opening the way to frequency-dependent studies in biomechanics, sort of spectroscopic AFM investigations.

References in corpus (1)

• Measurement of the complete interaction force curve at the nanoscale

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Spectroscopic investigation of local mechanical impedance of living cells
• System analysis of Force Feedback Microscopy
• Small amplitude Dynamic AFM: quantifying interactions with different tip detection and excitation schemes in presence of additional resonances
• Variable frequency characterization of interaction at nanoscale in linear dynamic AFM: an FFM primer