Rapid and reliable calibration of laser beam deflection system for microcantilever-based sensor setups

Cantilever array-based sensor devices widely utilise the laser-based optical deflection method for measuring static cantilever deflections mostly with home-built devices with individual geometries. in contrast to scanning probe microscopes,cantilever array devices have no additional positioning device like a piezo stage. as the cantilevers are used in more and more sensitive measurements,it is important to have a simple,rapid,and reliable calibration relating the deflection of the cantilever to the change in position measured by the position-sensitive detector. we present here a simple method for calibrating such systems utilising commercially available afm cantilevers and the equipartition theorem. copyright © 2012 rohit mishra et al.