Near-Field Scanning Optical Microscope/Atomic Force Microscope with Broad-Band Source for Study of Optical Metamaterials and Nanocircuits.

摘要

With the DURIP Grant Number FA9550-09-1-0448 we purchased a Nanonics MV-4000 Near Field Scanning Optical Microscope (NSOM) and a Fianium SC450-6 Super Continuum laser. Conventional far-field microscopy is limited by the diffraction such that all optical information about features smaller than one- half the wavelength is lost between the sample being investigated and the eye of the observer. This can be likened to the difficulties inherent in trying to understand the layout of an electronic circuit by examining its radio frequency radiation pattern with an antenna from across the room. However, this does not mean that these features do not affect the fields locally. Just as one can understand the local voltages with a voltage probe and oscilloscope, using an NSOM, we can understand the local optical fields using a small aperture on the end of an optical fiber and an avalanche photodiode (APD). While this is a useful description of how an NSOM enables near-field microscopy, the analogy is particularly apropos as our goal is to take the powerful modular nature of conventional electronics and move this into the optical domain using through extreme miniaturization and techniques born out of metamaterials.