COMBINED ATOMIC-FORCE AND SCANNING REFLECTION INTERFERENCE CONTRAST MICROSCOPY

A sphere attached to a cantilever is used simultaneously as an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip and as a curved reflective surface for prod ucing scanning reflection interference contrast microscope (RICM) imag es of fluorescent beads dried onto a glass slide. The AFM and RICM ima ges are acquired in direct registration which enables the identificati on of individually excited beads in the AFM images. The addition of a sharp, electron beam-deposited tip to the sphere gives nanometer resol ution AFM images without loss of optical contrast.