In this work, a metallic probe with a sharp tip and two half-circular nanostructures on its base is introduced and investigated. The proposed design aims at improving the detection performance of a probe for scattering scanning near-field optical microscopy in terms of enhanced signal-to-noise ratio. Under the premise of processing feasibility, the structure of the probe is designed and optimiz...

We study the intensity spatial correlation function of optical speckle patterns above a disordered dielectric medium in the multiple scattering regime. The intensity distributions are recorded by scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) with sub-wavelength spatial resolution at variable distances from the surface in a range which spans continuously from the near-field (distance ≪ λ) to the...

Optical microscopy suffers from a fundamental resolution limitation arising from the diffractive nature of light. While current solutions to sub-diffraction optical microscopy involve combinations of near-field, non-linear and fine scanning operations, we hereby propose and demonstrate the optical super-microscope (OSM) - a superoscillation-based linear imaging system with far-field working and...

Near-field scanning optical microscopes are widely used in imaging of subwavelength features in various material systems and nanostructures. For a variety of applications, polarization-sensitive near-field probes can provide valuable information on the nature and symmetry of the imaged nanoparticles and emitters. Conventional near-field optical microscopy lacks in-plane polarization sensitivity...

A near-field optical virtual probe (NFOVP) is a type of immaterial tip based on the principle of near-field evanescent wave interference. Evanescent wave interference and the aperture type play very significant roles in generating near-field optical virtual probes. Two evanescent waves, propagating in opposite directions, will interfere to generate the confinement field. The central peak of the...