Scanning tunneling microscopy of RF oscillating surfaces

Amplitude and phase of high frequency surface acoustic wave (SAW) fields are investigated by a novel scanning tunneling microscopy technique. The gap voltage is modulated at a slightly detuned high frequency. Due to the nonlinearity of the tunneling process a frequency mixing appears. For scanned areas with dimensions much smaller than the wavelength of the SAW a remarkable local variation of amplitude and phase of the tunneling current at the difference frequency is observed. Depending on the local morphology different components of the particle displacement vector are detected. Model calculations of amplitude and phase images are presented for a real topography.