Understanding and Controlling Spatial Resolution, Sensitivity, and Surface Selectivity in Resonant-Mode Photothermal-Induced Resonance Spectroscopy

Photothermal-induced resonance (PTIR) is increasingly used in the measurement of infrared absorption spectra of submicrometer objects. The technique measures IR absorption spectra by relying on the photothermal effect induced by a rapid pulse of light and the excitation of the resonance spectrum of an AFM cantilever in contact with the sample. In this work, we assess the spatial resolution and depth response of PTIR in resonant mode while systematically varying the pulsing parameters of the excitation laser. We show that resolution is always much better than predicted by existing theoretical models. Higher frequency, longer pulse length, and shorter interval between pulses improve resolution, eventually providing values that are comparable to or even better than tip size. Pulsing parameters also affect the intensity of the signal and the surface selectivity in PTIR images, with higher frequencies providing increased surface selectivity. The observations confirm a difference in signal generation between resonant PTIR and other photothermal techniques that we ascribe to nonlinearity in the PTIR signal. In analogy with optical imaging, we show that PTIR takes advantage of such nonlinearity to perform photothermal measurements that are super-resolved when compared to the resolution allowed by the thermal wavelength. Finally, we show that by controlling the pulsing parameters of the laser we can devise high resolution surface sensitive measurements that do not rely on the use of optical enhancement effects.