Mapping energy transformation pathways and dissipation on the nanoscale and understanding the role of local structure on dissipative behavior is a challenge for imaging in areas ranging from electronics and information technologies to efficient energy production. Here we develop a novel Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) technique in which the cantilever is excited and the response is recorded over a band of frequencies simultaneously rather than at a single frequency as in conventional SPMs. This band excitation (BE) SPM allows very rapid acquisition of the full frequency response at each point (i.e. transfer function) in an image and in particular enables the direct measurement of energy dissipation through the determination of the Q-factor of the cantilever-sample system. The BE method is demonstrated for force-distance and voltage spectroscopies and for magnetic dissipation imaging with sensitivity close to the thermomechanical limit. The applicability of BE for various SPMs is analyzed, and the method is expected to be universally applicable to all ambient and liquid SPMs.

A novel approach for nanoscale imaging and characterization of the orientation dependence of electromechanical properties—vector piezoresponse force microscopy (Vector PFM)—is described. The relationship between local electromechanical response, polarization, piezoelectric constants, and crystallographic orientation is analyzed in detail. The image formation mechanism in vector PFM is discussed. Conditions for complete three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of the electromechanical response vector and evaluation of the piezoelectric constants from PFM data are set forth. The developed approach can be applied to crystallographic orientation imaging in piezoelectric materials with a spatial resolution below 10 nm. Several approaches for data representation in 2D-PFM and 3D-PFM are presented. The potential of vector PFM for molecular orientation imaging in macroscopically disordered piezoelectric polymers and biological systems is discussed.

Stress-induced changes in the imprint and switching behavior of (111)-oriented $\mathrm{Pb}(\mathrm{Zr,Ti}){\mathrm{O}}_3$ (PZT)-based capacitors have been studied using piezoresponse force microscopy. Visualization of polarization distribution and $d_{33}$ -loop measurements in individual $\text{1×1.5-μ}{\mathrm{m}}^2$ capacitors before and after stress application, generated by substrate bending, provided direct experimental evidence of stress-induced switching. Mechanical stress caused elastic switching in capacitors with the direction of the resulting polarization determined by the sign of the applied stress. In addition, stress application turned capacitors into a heavily imprinted state characterized by strongly shifted hysteresis loops and almost complete backswitching after application of the poling voltage. It is suggested that substrate bending generated a strain gradient in the PZT layer, which produced asymmetric lattice distortion with preferential polarization direction and triggered polarization switching due to the flexoelectric effect.