July 7, 2006 – Asylum Research, a Santa Barbara, Calif., manufacturer of atomic force microscopes (AFMs), announced the formation of Asylum Research UK Ltd., a company that will distribute and support its AFM products in the UK and Ireland. The new company is headquartered in the Oxford Centre for Innovation in Oxford which houses other science and high-technology businesses.

Shelley Wilkins has been appointed managing director for the UK company. Wilkins received her PhD from Oxford University and holds a degree in physical and theoretical chemistry. She has been published in numerous international science journals for her AFM work and was recently the business development manager at Windsor Scientific.

The company also announced its new Dual AC imaging mode for atomic force micrsocopy. The company says the mode goes beyond conventional phase imaging in measuring the mechanical and chemical properties of samples by employing higher resonance modes of cantilevers. The patent-pending Dual AC Mode is available only on the Asylum Research MFP-3D AFM.

“Unlike phase imaging which typically requires a choice of setpoint and drive amplitude to maximize the phase contrast, Dual AC shows increased contrast over a much wider range of imaging parameters,” said Roger Proksch, president of Asylum Research, in a prepared statement. “It also provides information on the frequency dependent mechanical properties of a surface. Because of the pioneering all digital nature of our MFP-3D controller, Dual AC Mode was added without any hardware modifications and is available to all current MFP-3D users.”

In Dual AC, the cantilever is driven at or near two or more of its resonance frequencies. The cantilever motion is then analyzed by two quadrature digital lock-in amplifiers. The output of the lock-ins can be displayed, saved, combined with other signals, and used in user-selected feedback loops.