Implementing the mode of spectroscopic measurement in piezoresponse force microscopy into the cryogenic atomic force microscope

A scheme of spectroscopic measurements in piezoresponse force microscopy technique was developed and implemented into the cryogenic atomic force microscope AttoAFM I (Attocube, Germany). For this purpose an external functional generator FC 120 (Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Japan) and a lock-in amplifier SR 844 (Stanford Research Systems Inc., USA) were connected to the computer of cryogenic microscope. System was synchronized and controlled by LabVIEW via NI GPIB-USB-HS adapter. Developed scheme of spectroscopic measurements allows obtaining hysteresis loops in piezoresponse force microscopy regime in the temperature range of 4 - 295 K from great variety of objects starting from thin piezoelectric films and ending by bulk crystals and piezoceramics.