Near-field scanning solid immersion microscope
- 1 June 1998
- journal article
- Published by AIP Publishing in Applied Physics Letters
- Vol. 72 (22), 2779-2781
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.121457
Abstract
We report a near-field scanning optical microscope using a solid immersion lens having a sharp tip that is mounted to a cantilever. The sharp tip allows the sample to enter the near field of the illumination. The cantilever provides sensitive control of forces. We describe two types of near-field optical contrast, interference and reflection, that simultaneously measure surface topography and reflectivity. Using a super-hemispherical lens with index n=2.2 and 442 nm illumination, the microscope resolves optical features smaller than 150 nm, a factor of 2 improvement over a conventional optical microscope.Keywords
This publication has 9 references indexed in Scilit:
- High-efficiency and high-resolution fiber-optic probes for near field imaging and spectroscopyApplied Physics Letters, 1997
- Highly efficient excitation of optical near-field on an apertured fiber probe with an asymmetric structureApplied Physics Letters, 1997
- Pulsed laser-induced desorption and optical imaging on a nanometer scale with scanning near-field microscopy using chemically etched fiber tipsApplied Physics Letters, 1996
- Near-field optical data storage using a solid immersion lensApplied Physics Letters, 1994
- High-numerical-aperture lens system for optical storageOptics Letters, 1993
- Breaking the Diffraction Barrier: Optical Microscopy on a Nanometric ScaleScience, 1991
- Solid immersion microscopeApplied Physics Letters, 1990
- Collection mode near-field scanning optical microscopyApplied Physics Letters, 1987
- Optical stethoscopy: Image recording with resolution λ/20Applied Physics Letters, 1984