Effect of Probe Quality Factor on the Sensitivity of Variable Temperature Magnetic Force Microscopy

We report the use of piezoelectric quartz tuning forks as force sensors for variable temperature magnetic force microscopy. As the Q-factor of the sensor alters with temperature we have investigated the effect of electronically varying the Q-factor at constant temperature to elucidate how the sensitivity of the sensor depends on the Q-factor. We find that the sensitivity improves in proportion to the Q-factor. The signal-to-noise ratio also improves as the Q-factor is increased.