An apertureless near-field microscope for fluorescence imaging

An apertureless near-field microscope for fluorescence imaging

We describe an apertureless near field microscope for imaging fluorescent samples. Optical contrast is generated by exploiting fluorescent quenching near a metallized atomic force microscope tip. This microscope has been used to image fluorescent latex beads with subdiffraction limit resolution. The use of fluorescence allows us to prove that the contrast mechanism is indeed spectroscopic in or...

Apertureless near-field optical microscope

We demonstrate a new method whereby near-field optical microscope resolution can be extended to the nanometer regime. The technique is based on measuring the modulation of the scattered electric field from the end of a sharp silicon tip as it is stabilized and scanned in close proximity to a sample surface. Our initial results demonstrate resolution in the 3 nm range--comparable to what can be ...

An apertureless near-field scanning optical microscope for imaging surface plasmons in the mid-wave infrared

ABSTRACT An apertureless near-field scanning optical microscope (a-NSOM) setup is described. Special consideration is given to important system components. Surface plasmons are defined, as is their relationship to aNSOM and their interaction with the scanning probe tip. We used this set-up to measure a metal-dielectric-metal (MDM) antenna integrated with a quantum cascade laser (QCL). The forme...

Scanning Head for the Apertureless near Field Optical Microscope

The design and characterization of a tip control unit for an apertureless scanning near field optical microscope (ASNOM) is reported. To make the instrument operation easier, the cantilever control parts (piezo excitation of the cantilever vibration for the dynamic mode feedback and the parts necessary for the optical lever scheme of the vibration control) were placed in a separate detachable a...

Apertureless scanning near field optical microscope with sub-10nm resolution