Imprinting the optical near field of microstructures with nanometer resolution.

Control over the optical near field is a pillar stone of material processing, microscopy, and biosensing at the submicrometer scale. The same applies to scanning probe techniques, which produce an impressive spatial resolution, and to colloidal lithography for casting large periodic nanostructure arrays. However, imaging near-field distributions with subwavelength detail remains a challenge in this context. Here we demonstrate imaging of complex two-dimensional (2D) near-field patterns imprinted on photosensitive films, resulting from interference between laser light and light scattered by dielectric microspheres. We achieve control over the resulting patterns by varying the illumination conditions and the size and arrangement of the particles.Using chalcogenide films to record the near field, the imprint produces optical, electrical, and topographical contrast and allows for the writing of erasable features as small as 10 nm. Our technique is directly applicable to any typeof scatteringparticle (size, shape, and material), thus providing a simple way of imprinting its near field. The optical near field in the vicinity of a microor nanoparticle illuminated by laser light has a spatial distribution that depends on the complex interplay between the properties of the scattering particle, the laser beam, and the substrate. Specifically, the local field enhancement induced by individual particles or sharp tips has been recently identified as a powerful means for nanopatterning applications, opening the possibility to perform subwavelength surface carving of a