We report transmission infrared near-field scanning microscopy ~IR-NSOM! imaging of chemically amplified photoresist polymers patterned by ultraviolet exposure. Chemical specificity was attained using infrared wavelengths tuned to the 3 mm OH stretch absorption band of the polymer, a band sensitive to the chemical changes characteristic of the lithographic photochemical process of this material...

Novel scanning probe microscopy (SPM) spectroscopic techniques are currently receiving much attention. The increasing number of spectroscopic techniques, when combined with the high spatial resolution that is attainable with SPM, makes it possible to probe a large range of material characteristics on the nanoscopic scale. The ability to probe samples on the nanoscale with femtosecond time resol...

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...

Date The final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signatories, and we find that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards of scholarly work in the above mentioned discipline. Thesis directed by Professor Markus Raschke Scattering scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) is a powerful technique for measuring spectroscopic properties of materials with s...

The method of fluorescence resonance energy transfer scanning near-field optical microscopy (FRET SNOM) consists in the separation of a FRET pair between an SNOM tip and a sample. The donor (or acceptor) centre is located at the tip apex and scanned in the vicinity of a sample while acceptor fluorescence (or donor-fluorescence quenching) is detected. It is shown that the spatial resolution for ...