Ultrafast pump-probe force microscopy

Ultrafast pump-probe force microscopy constitutes a non-optical detection technique with nanoscale resolution that pushes pump-probe sensitivities close to the realm of single molecule studies. Optical pump-probe spectroscopy comprises a popular set of techniques that enables a direct view of the timeordered, ultrafast dynamics following optical excitations in materials. Pump-probe measurements are typically carried out on large ensembles of particles or molecules, where the response of individual contributors combines with that from others to produce strong optical signals from the illuminated sample. In many studies, however, the sample is heterogeneous, and the unique response from individual particles is lost when averaging over the ensemble.

Learn more from Eric Potma’s research group – http://www.chem.uci.edu/~potma/JJ_APL15.pdf