The Hakubi Project

Atomic force microscope (AFM) belongs to the scanning probe microscope family, itself stemming from scanning tunneling microscope. Using AFM, one can measure surface topography with atomic/molecular-resolution and measure various properties of the surface and interfaces with nanometer-scale resolution. This is rendered possible by detecting tiny forces exerted on an atomically sharp tip located very close to the sample surface. In this seminar, I will briefly mention the history and principles of atomic force microscope, and review some of the recent achievements obtained with state-of-the-art AFM.