AFM cantilever, with deflection angles and detector setup.
<p>The Z-deflection from the sample Z topography is giving a deflection in the xz-plane and measured by the top-bottom detector pair.
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Lateral forces on the cantilever give both torsion (yz-plane deflection and Left-right detector signal) and a lateral deflection in the xy-plane that cannot be measured by the detector.
Illustration by <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://kristian.molhave.dk">Kristian Molhave</a>
CC BY 2.5
Please acknowledge the <a href="https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/nanotechnology" class="extiw" title="b:nanotechnology"> Opensource Handbook of Nanotechnology</a> if you use illustrations from it.