Development of an Apertureless Near-Field Optical Microscope for Nanoscale Optical Imaging at Low Temperatures

Abstract

We have developed an apertureless scanning near-field optical microscope (apertureless SNOM) operating at low temperatures. The apertureless SNOM system is based on the atomic force microscope using a frequency modulation detection technique. The SNOM images reflect local optical properties of the sample surface, and optical images of a ferroelectric material are successfully obtained at low temperatures below a Curie temperature. The SNOM system developed in this work is a powerful tool to image local fields on the sample surface and to study phase transitions under high spatial resolution.