Improving image contrast and material discrimination with nonlinear response in bimodal atomic force microscopy

Atomic force microscopy has recently been extented to bimodal operation, where increased image contrast is achieved through excitation and measurement of two cantilever eigenmodes. This enhanced material contrast is advantageous in analysis of complex heterogeneous materials with phase separation on the micro or nanometre scale. Here we show that much greater image contrast results from analysis of nonlinear response to the bimodal drive, at harmonics and mixing frequencies. The amplitude and phase of up to 17 frequencies are simultaneously measured in a single scan. Using a machine-learning algorithm we demonstrate almost threefold improvement in the ability to separate material components of a polymer blend when including this nonlinear response. Beyond the statistical analysis performed here, analysis of nonlinear response could be used to obtain quantitative material properties at high speeds and with enhanced resolution.