The scanning probe microscopy laboratory is a reference point for the characterisation of magnetic materials at the nanoscale. The atomic force microscopes that are available in the laboratory allow surface characterisations and measurements of mechanical properties, together with a variety of long-range techniques that include magnetic, electric, piezoelectric and surface potential (Kelvin probe) microscopy. The microscopes are equipped with systems for generating and controlling magnetic fields directly on the samples, and allow controlling the sample temperature around room temperature (from -25 °C to +150 °C).

With the AFM/MFM microscopes of the laboratory we characterise metallic and polymeric materials, in the form of thin films and coatings, but also micro- and nano-patterned devices, as a function of the applied magnetic field, both for fundamental investigations, and for technological, energy and industrial applications, and for spintronics.