attoAFM I+ Head
featuring an alignement-free cantilever holder
The attoAFM I+ head features an alignment-free cantilever
holder for tip exchange, and hence takes over the complete
mechanical alignment of the cantilever with respect to the fiber
used for deflection readout. A folding mechanism allows for easy
extraction of the cantilever holder for tip exchange without
dismounting the AFM head itself.
To exchange the tip, the holder is simply put into an exchange
basis with a leveled platform. This enables to easily slide in and
out cantilevers, thus minimizing the danger of damaging the
costly and valuable tips during handling. The tip itself is held in
place by a spring blade, which can be slid open and closed via
another clever quick folding mechanism.
This way, the tip can be replaced within tens of seconds.
During re-attachment, a guiding rod automatically centers the
cantilever holder. When folding the head back into its initial
parking position, the fiber end is perfectly aligned with respect
to the cantilever. The desired interference pattern with ideal
contrast is thus automatically achieved without any further
mechanical alignment.
The attoAFM I+ head incl. the alignment-free cantilever holder is
included with every attoAFM I (2” and 1” version, as well as any
upgrades such as MFM, PFM, KPFM and ct-AFM), and is compatible
with all commercially available XY-auto alignment AFM tips
(patented technology by
).
1. Flip the AFM head upwards. (a)
2. Remove the cantilever holder. (b)
3. Perform the AFM tip exchange (for details, see
description of the cantilever holder on the right)
4. Once the new tip is mounted, reattach the
cantilever holder:
A guiding rod (c) automatically centers the
cantilever holder by fixing one degree of freedom,
while the fiber ferrule is still far away from any
potentially harmful obstacle.
5. Feed the ferrule into the cantilever holder through
another guiding sleeve (d). The ferrule is protected
by a soft sleeve.
6. Tilt the head back into the housing – it flips conve
niently and firmly into its dedicated parking position.
Tip exchange in < 2 minutes! Watch the video on
a
Done.
d
c
b
There is no further mechanical alignment necessary –
perfectly aligned, yielding the desired interferogram
used for the deflection detection of the cantilever.