Sub-microsecond-resolution probe microscopy

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a cantilever configured to measure the response of a sample adjacent the cantilever;

a drive controller configured to oscillate the cantilever at a drive frequency;

a detector in communication with the cantilever, which is configured to measure the response of the cantilever;

an excitation signal generator configured to apply a perturbation to the sample; and

a triggering circuit configured to coordinate the response of the cantilever and the perturbation such that the perturbation occurs at the about the same position in the cantilever oscillation cycle.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a system controller in communication with the drive controller, said system controller being configured to control the drive frequency applied by the drive controller.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the system controller is in communication with the triggering circuit.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the system controller is in communication with the detector.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the cantilever is an atomic force microscopy (AFM) cantilever, and wherein the detector is in optical communication with the cantilever through an optical beam reflected off the cantilever and into the detector, wherein said detector is an optical detector.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the excitation signal generator is selected from the group consisting of a light source, a magnetic source, an electrical source, a radio frequency source, and combinations thereof.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the excitation signal generator and the cantilever are both configured to be in communication with a first location on the sample.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the excitation signal generator generates a perturbation that is transient or time-varying.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus does not utilize a feedback loop to regulate cantilever motion following the perturbation.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a positioning controller configured to position the cantilever in relation to the sample.

11. A time-resolved microscopy method for measuring the response of a sample to a perturbation, using a cantilever positioned adjacent a first location of the sample, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) applying the perturbation to the sample at a first time;

(b) measuring the motion of the cantilever in response to the effect of the perturbation on the sample for a predetermined first length of time, to provide a deflection signal, without imposing feedback to regulate cantilever motion following the perturbation; and

(c) determining from the deflection signal the time-domain properties of the effect of the perturbation on the first location of the sample.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the cantilever is an oscillating cantilever vibrated at a steady-state frequency prior to the perturbation, and wherein determining the time-domain properties comprises the steps of:

(i) extracting an instantaneous frequency of the cantilever from the deflection signal, to provide a frequency signal for the first length of time;

(ii) identifying within the frequency signal the maximum frequency shift from the steady-state frequency, to provide a frequency peak value at a peak time; and

(iii) determining the amount of time intermediate the first time and the peak time, to provide a frequency-shift-peak time that is characteristic of the time-domain characteristics of the effect of the perturbation on the sample at the first location.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein extracting an instantaneous frequency of the cantilever from the deflection signal comprises determining an instantaneous phase of the cantilever from the deflection signal.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising a step of repeating the steps of applying the perturbation and measuring the motion of the cantilever in response to the effect of the perturbation multiple times at the first location using the same magnitude of perturbation and averaging the multiple deflection signals to provide an averaged deflection signal, wherein the averaged deflection signal is used as the deflection signal when determining the time-domain properties of the effect of the perturbation on the first location of the sample.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the cantilever is an oscillating cantilever and wherein repeating the steps of applying the perturbation and measuring the motion of the cantilever in response to the effect of the perturbation multiple times comprises coordinating the position of the cantilever and the perturbation such that the perturbation occurs at about the same position in the cantilever oscillation cycle.

16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising rastering the cantilever across the sample to multiple locations while determining, from the deflection signal at each of the multiple locations, the time-domain properties of the effect of the perturbation on the multiple locations of the sample, to provide an image of the sample.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein the perturbation is selected from the group consisting of a light signal, a magnetic signal, an electrical signal, a radio frequency pulse signal, and combinations thereof.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the perturbation is transient or time-varying.