A dark field photon scanning tunneling microscope under incoherent light illumination

doi:10.1016/0030-4018(94)90344-1

Optics Communications

Volume 107, Issues 5–6, 1 May 1994, Pages 347-352

https://doi.org/10.1016/0030-4018(94)90344-1 Get rights and content

Abstract

A new kind of photon scanning tunneling microscope which reduces the asymmetrical effects due to the illumination is described. The evanescent electromagnetic field is produces through a conventional dark field optical microscope condensor with a white incoherent light source. Images of quartz crossed grating are presented and compared to the spatial distribution of the calculated iso-intensity lines.

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Theoretical study of an absorbing sample in infrared near-field spectromicroscopy
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This paper is devoted to study the near-field spectrometry in the infrared spectral range. To understand the behavior of the infrared light diffracted by an object, numerical calculations have been carried out with Fourier Modale (FM) method within R-matrix algorithm. We consider the case of three-dimensional system including a translational symmetry in one direction, where is included an homogenous layer in which is buried an absorbing object. Using an optical near-field analysis and by calculating the electric field intensity distribution, both of the thickness effect and the lateral size of the absorbing sample are investigated. It is found that the distribution of the intensity related to the electric field is depending on geometry of the absorbing object. Also, we show how the diffraction due to the sample edges has an effect on the field intensity distribution. After that we pay more attention to the spectroscopy mapping description, in particular to the influence of the sample characteristics on detection of an absorbent object in near-field. This technique is also able to detect the doublet of an absorbent object with over-wavelength size but in near-field zone. When the lateral size of the object is a sub-wavelength, the absorption bands are detected with slight distortion but the diffraction effects are present. To diminish the diffraction effects, we reduce the sample thickness which may induce a more important absorption bands distortion.
Near-field optical microscope images of a dielectric flat substrate with subwavelength strips
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In near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM), optical images are calculated for flat-surface samples with an optical index distribution. This makes it possible to estimate NSOM images that are free from perturbations in the topographical information of the sample. A realistic NSOM is simulated, including an aperture probe and a three-dimensional field. The calculations reveal the imaging characteristics of both the dielectric and opaque samples. We found that the NSOM images particularly under s-polarized illumination should be analyzed with the knowledge of the point spread function to avoid misinterpreting the detected images. Differences in images due to two orthogonal polarizations and incident angle of illumination are also examined.
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Citation Excerpt :
Therefore, the only way for breaking the coherence in the object plane is the decrease of the time coherence. This possibility has been explored by Chabrier et al. [3]who have used white light in a STOM/PSTM configuration. Unfortunately, white light sources are omnidirectional, leading to huge losses during the propagation from the source to the object plane.
A symmetric illumination device for scanning tunneling optical microscopy is proposed. This new configuration limits the spurious effects due to non isotropic illumination, coherence and polarization effects. Some specific test objects have been fabricated in order to estimate the validity of such a microscope. Experimental results exhibiting highly confined features for a 15 nm chromium layer with 130–150 nm diameter holes have been obtained.
Image formation in near-field optics
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An overview is presented of the image formation theory in near-field optical microscopy. The emphasis is placed on the basic concepts and the understanding of the images. We briefly recall the general principles used in near-field optics to break the resolution limit. Since some of the concepts widely used in optics become meaningless in near field, a brief critical review of basic concepts is given. A theory of scattering of electromagnetic waves by inhomogeneous surfaces is then presented. For objects much smaller than the wavelength, a closed-form expression of the scattered field is derived, which provides a link between the near field and the structure of the sample. The different set-ups and their imaging capabilities are analysed. A general relationship between the signal and the induced currents in the sample is derived by means of the reciprocity theorem. The set-ups are compared and an equivalence between illumination and collection mode is proven. It is shown that, when multiple scattering between the sample and the rest of the system can be neglected, an impulse response can be defined for the three different types of set-ups: illumination mode, collection mode and apertureless. The importance of coherence in the near field is studied. Finally, the influence of the different control modes (constant height, constant intensity, constant tip-sample distance) is analysed and the existence of artifacts is discussed.
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A dark field photon scanning tunneling microscope under incoherent light illumination

Abstract

Biophys. J.

Optics Comm.

Ultramicroscopy

J. Appl. Phys.

Phys. Rev. B