The intersection of controls and physics in atomic force microscopy

This paper points out some of the areas in atomic force microscopes where control can make big contributions. There are lots of interesting problems to be found, and given that there are several thousand atomic force microscopes in the world, and the market is still growing, it also means that these problems are very relevant. The paper also gives a more a detailed look into one of these problems - an interesting non-linear dynamics problem that appears in the field. While a fair amount of work has been done on this problem, a better understanding of this problem can lead to improved operation of the microscope. Positioning control loops that are most commonly used in atomic force microscopes are piezo-electric actuators, and these are inherently non-linear devices.