Near field optical microscopy by local perturbation of a diffraction spot

Abstract

Using a vibrating metallic tip, which periodically and locally modifies the distribution of a converging electromagnetic field issued from a microscope objective, we have observed a clear improvement of the optical resolution compared to the diffraction limited one. This NFOM technique is coupled with a ''tapping mode'' AFM which uses the same tip. The experimental set-up is described and NFOM and AFM images of known samples are presented.