The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 19, 2004
Filed:
Oct. 02, 2002
Applicant:
Inventors:
Assignee:
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01B 9/02 ; G01B 5/28 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G01B 9/02 ; G01B 5/28 ;
Abstract
A method and an apparatus for measuring the microforce acting between a micro particle fixed on the probe and the observation plane are described. The probe is feedback-controlled to be held motionless by canceling probe displacements caused by movements of the micro particle fixed on the probe, using irradiation pressure provided by a laser that applies photon pressure. The microforce acting between the micro particle fixed on the probe and the observation plane is measured by recording the time-varying laser output power. This allows probe fluctuations to be reduced to a few angstroms, and permits control of the distance to the target object to within a few nm, enabling measurement of microforces on the order of 0.1 pN.