Alumina is a technologically important oxide crystal because of its use as a catalyst and as a substrate for microelectronic applications. A precise knowledge of its surface atomic structure is a prerequisite for understanding and controlling the physical processes involved in many of its applications. Here we use a dynamic scanning force microscopy technique to image directly the atomic structure of the high-temperature phase of the alpha-Al2O3(0001) surface. Evidence for a surface reconstruction appears as a grid of protrusions that represent a rhombic unit cell, and we confirm that the arrangement of atoms is in the form of surface domains with hexagonal atomic order at the centre and disorder at the periphery. We show that, on exposing the surface to water and hydrogen, this surface structure is important in the formation of hydroxide clusters. These clusters appear as a regular pattern of rings that can be explained by self-organization processes involving cluster-surface and cluster-cluster interactions. Alumina has long been regarded as the definitive test for atomic-resolution force microscopy of insulators so the whole class of insulating oxides should now open for direct atomic-scale surface investigations.

The current status and future prospects of non-contact atomic force microscopy (nc-AFM) and Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) for studying insulating surfaces and thin insulating films in high resolution are discussed. The rapid development of these techniques and their use in combination with other scanning probe microscopy methods over the last few years has made them increasingly relevant for studying, controlling, and functionalizing the surfaces of many key materials. After introducing the instruments and the basic terminology associated with them, state-of-the-art experimental and theoretical studies of insulating surfaces and thin films are discussed, with specific focus on defects, atomic and molecular adsorbates, doping, and metallic nanoclusters. The latest achievements in atomic site-specific force spectroscopy and the identification of defects by crystal doping, work function, and surface charge imaging are reviewed and recent progress being made in high-resolution imaging in air and liquids is detailed. Finally, some of the key challenges for the future development of the considered fields are identified.

Silicene, the considered equivalent of graphene for silicon, has been recently synthesized on Ag(111) surfaces. Following the tremendous success of graphene, silicene might further widen the horizon of two-dimensional materials with new allotropes artificially created. Due to stronger spin-orbit coupling, lower group symmetry and different chemistry compared to graphene, silicene presents many new interesting features. Here, we focus on very important aspects of silicene layers on Ag(111): First, we present scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and non-contact Atomic Force Microscopy (nc-AFM) observations of the major structures of single layer and bi-layer silicene in epitaxy with Ag(111). For the (3 × 3) reconstructed first silicene layer nc-AFM represents the same lateral arrangement of silicene atoms as STM and therefore provides a timely experimental confirmation of the current picture of the atomic silicene structure. Furthermore, both nc-AFM and STM give a unifying interpretation of the second layer (√3 × √3)R ± 30° structure. Finally, we give support to the conjectured possible existence of less stable, ~2% stressed, (√7 × √7)R ± 19.1° rotated silicene domains in the first layer.

The (001) surface of UHV cleaved single MgO crystals was imaged with dynamic mode scanning force microscopy. Large-scale images show various defects, like steps of mostly one atomic height, rectangular holes of nanometer size, and some complex adstructures. First time images with atomic resolution show one square ionic sublattice in its bulklike dimension with a corrugation of up to 40 pm along the <001> direction. Most images exhibit atomic point defects which appear as depressions including a few ionic lattice sites proving that point defects are stable on flat terraces.

We investigate mechanisms of contrast formation in atomic resolution imaging of flat terraces on the CaF 2 (111) surface with scanning force microscopy operated in the dynamic mode. Experimental results are interpreted with a theory based on atomistic modelling. Experiments reveal characteristic contrast features in the form of triangles that can be explained by theory as being due to the interaction of a positively terminated tip with fluorine ions from two different sublattices. Results for a tip with negative termination are found not to be compatible with experiments. We demonstrate that theory correctly predicts the trend in contrast changes when varying the tip-surface distance but is also limited in quantitative agreement due to the non-ideal atomic structure of real tips. In a distance range where such peculiarities do not play a major role, however, we find good quantitative agreement between theoretical predictions and experimental results. The validity of the comparison between theory and experimental scan lines is discussed in detail using an extensive statistical image analysis.

The (111) surface of CaF 2 was imaged with dynamic mode scanning force microscopy and modeled using atomistic simulation. Both experiment and theory showed a clear triangular contrast pattern in images, and theory demonstrated that the contrast pattern is due to the interaction of a positive electrostatic potential tip with fluorine ions in the two topmost surface layers. We find a good agreement of position and relative height of scan line features between theory and experiment and thus establish for the first time an unambiguous identification of sublattices of an insulator imaged by force microscopy.

Experiments with strong localized electron cyclotron heating (ECH) in the RTP tokamak show that electron heat transport is governed by alternating layers of good and bad thermal conduction. For central deposition hot T e filaments are observed inside the q = 1 radius. Moving the ECH resonance from the centre to the edge of the plasma results in discrete steps of the central electron temperature. The transitions occur when the minimum q value crosses q = 1, 2, 5/2 or 3, and correspond to the loss of a transport barrier situated close to the rational q value. Close to the transitions a new type of sawtooth activity is observed, characterized by the formation of sharp off-axis maxima on the T e profile, which collapse abruptly. The formation of the off-axis maxima is attributed to heat deposition precisely 'on top of' a transport barrier.

In this Letter we consider the surface double layer on (001) surfaces of UHV cleaved and annealed alkali halide crystals (KCl, NaCl), which we studied with dynamic scanning force microscopy and Kelvin probe force microscopy. Kelvin images show bright and round patches at corner sites and steps. Images with atomic resolution always show kinks at the latter step sites. Our findings are in perfect agreement with the long-standing picture that, due to the presence of divalent impurity ions, the surface carries a net negative surface charge originating from negative cation vacancies at kinks.