An instrument that images a surface by dragging or tapping an extremely sharp tip across it and recording the deflection.
It measures force, not light, so it is not limited by the wavelength of visible light and works in air or liquid. The catch is that every image is a convolution of the surface with the tip: features narrower than the tip radius come out looking like the tip. Reading an AFM image means reading an artefact as much as a surface.
Articles that define atomic force microscope in context.
What eight real deep-science roles involve day to day, what qualification each actually needs, and the two axes — bench time and code time — that decide which will suit you.
Discovery, characterisation, pilot line, product. What each stage measures, what kills projects at each one, and why most of the field is permanently in the first two.
