Parameter control, characterization, and optimization in the fabrication of optical fiber near-field probes.

Tip diameter and transmission efficiency of a visible-wavelength near-field optic probe determine both the lateral spatial resolution and experimental utility of the near-field scanning optical microscope. The commonly used tip fabrication technique, laser-heated pulling of fused-silica optical fiber followed by aperture formation through aluminization, is a complex process governed by a large number of parameters. An extensive study of the pulling parameter space has revealed a time-dependent functionality between the various pulling parameters dominated by a photon-based heating mechanism. The photon-based heat source results in a temperature and viscosity dependence that is a complex function of time and fiber diameter. Changing the taper of the optical probe can affect transmission efficiency by an order of magnitude or more.

[1]  T. D. Harris,et al.  Breaking the Diffraction Barrier: Optical Microscopy on a Nanometric Scale , 1991, Science.

[2]  E. Betzig,et al.  Near-Field Optics: Microscopy, Spectroscopy, and Surface Modification Beyond the Diffraction Limit , 1992, Science.

[3]  L. Holland,et al.  Vacuum deposition of thin films , 1956 .

[4]  R. Kopelman,et al.  Near-field scanning optical spectroscopy: Spatially resolved spectra of microcrystals and nanoaggregates in doped polymers , 1993 .

[5]  E. Betzig,et al.  Polarization contrast in near-field scanning optical microscopy. , 1992, Applied optics.

[6]  E. Betzig,et al.  Combined shear force and near‐field scanning optical microscopy , 1992 .

[7]  R. Toledo-Crow,et al.  Near‐field differential scanning optical microscope with atomic force regulation , 1992 .

[8]  Robert J. Chichester,et al.  Single Molecules Observed by Near-Field Scanning Optical Microscopy , 1993, Science.

[9]  B. Yakobson,et al.  Kinetic limits for sensing tip morphology in near‐field scanning optical microscopes , 1993 .

[10]  Ambrose,et al.  Single molecule detection and photochemistry on a surface using near-field optical excitation. , 1994, Physical review letters.

[11]  Werner Wegscheider,et al.  Optical spectroscopy of a GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wire structure using near-field scanning optical microscopy , 1994 .

[12]  D. Pohl,et al.  Scanning near-field optical microscopy , 1994 .

[13]  A. Lewis,et al.  A simple lateral force sensing technique for near‐field micropattern generation , 1993 .

[14]  Frederick Lanni,et al.  Near‐field fluorescence imaging of cytoskeletal actin , 1993 .

[15]  Eric L. Buckland,et al.  Resolution in collection-mode scanning optical microscopy , 1993 .

[16]  Robert C. Dunn,et al.  Near-field fluorescence imaging and fluorescence lifetime measurement of light harvesting complexes in intact photosynthetic membranes , 1994 .

[17]  M. Kryder,et al.  Near‐field magneto‐optics and high density data storage , 1992 .

[18]  Dieter W. Pohl.  Scanning Near-field Optical Microscopy (SNOM) , 1991 .