Pulse tube refrigerators are becoming more common, because they are cost efficient and demand less handling than conventional (wet) refrigerators. However, a downside of a pulse tube system is the vibration level at the cold-head, which is in most designs several micrometers. We implemented vibration isolation techniques which significantly reduced vibration levels at the experiment. These optimizations were necessary for the vibration sensitive magnetic resonance force microscopy experiments at milli-kelvin temperatures for which the cryostat is intended. With these modifications we show atomic resolution scanning tunneling microscopy on graphite. This is promising for scanning probe microscopy applications at very low temperatures.

Nuclear spin-lattice relaxation times are measured on copper using magnetic resonance force microscopy performed at temperatures down to 42 mK. The low temperature is verified by comparison with the Korringa relation. Measuring spin-lattice relaxation times locally at very low temperatures opens up the possibility to measure the magnetic properties of inhomogeneous electron systems realized in oxide interfaces, topological insulators and other strongly correlated electron systems such as high-Tc superconductors.Comment: We revised the manuscript by including the supplemental material. The manuscript is changed from a Letter to a Research Article after change of journa

We measure the dissipation and frequency shift of a magnetically coupled cantilever in the vicinity of a silicon chip, down to 25 mK. The dissipation and frequency shift originates from the interaction with the unpaired electrons, associated with the dangling bonds in the native oxide layer of the silicon, which form a two-dimensional system of electron spins. We approach the sample with a 3.43 μm-diameter magnetic particle attached to an ultrasoft cantilever and measure the frequency shift and quality factor as a function of temperature and the distance. Using a recent theoretical analysis [J. M. de Voogd et al., arXiv:1508.07972] of the dynamics of a system consisting of a spin and a magnetic resonator, we are able to fit the data and extract the relaxation time T 1 = 0.39 ± 0.08 ms and spin density σ = 0.14 ± 0.01 spins per nm 2 . Our analysis shows that at temperatures 500 mK magnetic dissipation is an important source of noncontact friction.

Within the last three decades Scanning Probe Microscopy has been developed to a powerful tool for measuring surfaces and their properties on an atomic scale such that users can be found nowadays not only in academia but also in industry. This development is still pushed further by researchers, who continuously exploit new possibilities of this technique, as well as companies that focus mainly on the usability. However, although imaging has become significantly easier, the time required for a safe approach (without unwanted tip-sample contact) can be very time consuming, especially if the microscope is not equipped or suited for the observation of the tip-sample distance with an additional optical microscope. Here we show that the measurement of the absolute tip-sample capacitance provides an ideal solution for a fast and reliable pre-approach. The absolute tip-sample capacitance shows a generic behavior as a function of the distance, even though we measured it on several completely different setups. Insight into this behavior is gained via an analytical and computational analysis, from which two additional advantages arise: the capacitance measurement can be applied for observing, analyzing, and fine-tuning of the approach motor, as well as for the determination of the (effective) tip radius. The latter provides important information about the sharpness of the measured tip and can be used not only to characterize new (freshly etched) tips but also for the determination of the degradation after a tip-sample contact/crash.

We measure the motion of an ultrasoft cantilever, carrying a ferromagnetic particle, by means of a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). In our scheme, the cantilever motion modulates the magnetic flux in the SQUID due to the coupling with the magnetic particle. For the cantilever fundamental mode, cooled to temperatures below 100 mK, we achieve a dimensionless coupling factor as large as 0.07, displacement sensitivity of 200 fm/Hz, and subattonewton force sensitivity. We demonstrate the outstanding combination of very low displacement and force noise by feedback-cooling the cantilever mode to an effective mode temperature of 160 μK.