In fact, there have been no reported case of anyone using
a magnetic force microscope to recover overwritten data.
This has led some people to theorize that, even after overwriting a sector, it may be possible to examine each sector's magnetic field with
a magnetic force microscope and determine its previous state.
They then used
a magnetic force microscope to demonstrate the material's local write - read - erase multi-functionality at room temperature.
The instrument combines an atomic force microscope with
a magnetic force microscope, both developed from the scanning tunnelling microscope which won a Nobel prize in 1986 for IBM researchers Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer.
In
the magnetic force microscope, the tip is coated with a magnetic material such as cobalt and vibrated at a greater distance above the surface, so that it is not influenced by the atomic force.
But the near - field
magnetic force microscope reveals both simultaneously.
In their most recent work, Walker and colleague Carol Diebel turned to
a magnetic force microscope, running it less than a hair's width above thin slices of trout nose tissue.
• In
a magnetic force microscope, the tip senses changes in the magnetic structure of the surface at the atomic level.
Not exact matches
The tips (see image below) are comparable to the probes of an atomic
force microscope and can be moved across
magnetic elements of inorganic or biological materials with high precision.
When a
magnetic field is switched on, electrons are unable to migrate from a conductive surface (blue) through chains of molecules encapsulated in a crystal to the tip of an atomic
force microscope (grey).
He still likes to tinker; only now he uses
magnetic beads, atomic -
force microscopes, and laser «tweezers» to explore the inner workings of the cell and the physical
forces behind DNA replication.