Near Field Optical Microscopy and Spectroscopy with STM and AFM Probes

This article deals with a new generation of scanning near field optical microscopes (SNOM), called apertureless SNOM, based on metallic, semi-conductive or dielectric probes. The classification of the apertureless probe among the usual SNOM probes is discussed in the first part. Then, we present the different apertureless SNOM configurations that we develop, with various commercial AFM and home-made tungsten tips, and several illumination and collection modes. Finally, after a preliminary result in near field imaging, we propose a promising application of such microscopes dedicated to the near field fluorescence spectroscopy.