The ultrasonic/shear-force microscope: Integrating ultrasonic sensing into a near-field scanning optical microscope

The ultrasonic/shear-force microscope: Integrating ultrasonic sensing into a near-field scanning optical microscope

An ultrasonic transducer is incorporated into a near-field scanning optical microscope NSOM to augment its versatility to characterize the properties of layers adsorbed to a sample’s surface. Working under typical NSOM operation conditions, the ultrasonic transducer—attached underneath the sample—demonstrates sufficient sensitivity to monitor the waves generated by the tapered NSOM probe that o...

Near-field Scanning Optical Microscope Platform

Near-field scanning optical microscope probe analysis.

In this article results of a comparison of two NSOM probe characterization methods are presented. Scanning electron microscopy analysis combined with electromagnetic field modeling using the finite difference in time domain method are compared with measured far-field radiation diagrams of NSOM probes. It is shown that measurement of far-field radiation diagrams can be an efficient tool for dail...

A compact fluorescence and polarization near-field scanning optical microscope

We present a transmission, fluorescence, and polarization near-field scanning optical microscope with shear-force feedback control that is small in size and simple to operate. This microscope features an ultrafine mechanical tip/sample approach with continuous manual submicron control over a range of several millimeters. The piezo-driven 12 mm x-y scan range is complimented by a 4 mm coarse mec...

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...