A driving laser unit (11) irradiates a laser beam on a cantilever (5) to cause thermal expansion deformation. A driving-laser control unit (13) performs feedback control for the cantilever (5) by controlling intensity of the laser beam on the basis of displacement of the cantilever (5) detected by a sensor (9). A thermal-response compensating circuit (35) has a constitution equivalent to an inverse transfer function of a heat transfer function of the cantilever (5) and compensates for a delay in a thermal response of the cantilever (5) to the light irradiation. Moreover, the cantilever (5) may be excited by controlling the intensity of the laser beam. By controlling light intensity, a Q value of a lever resonance system is also controlled. It is possible to increase scanning speed of an atomic force microscope.