Paper detail

Hidden dynamics in fast force curves: Transient Damping and Brownian-Driven Contact Resonance

Force distance curves (FCs) are among the most direct measurements performed in atomic force microscopy (AFM), yet their information content is often reduced by filtering and quasi-static interpretation. Here, enabled by a new interferometric detector, we show that fast FCs inherently excite short-lived cantilever oscillations whose transient frequency and decay encode local stiffness and dissipation. By analyzing these dynamics on a single-curve, single-pixel basis, we extract time-local mechanical information without external broadband excitation or multi-pass imaging. We develop a state-dependent single-mode harmonic oscillator model that captures snap-in excitation, hydration-mediated dissipation, and contact stiffness during fast force mapping. Experimental analysis of high-bandwidth force-curve data and numerical simulations demonstrate that multiple dynamically distinct interaction regimes occur within a single FC. Accessing these transient dynamics enables high-throughput, high-resolution mapping of mechanical contrast and reveals heterogeneous and non-repeatable behaviors that are lost under conventional averaging or with conventional detection schemes with higher noise floors.