Apertureless scanning near-field fluorescence microscopy in liquids

We show that apertureless scanning near-field optical microscopes that use sharp vibrating conical tips can be operated in liquid environments. We have investigated the damping of the tip oscillation as a function of its shape and as a function of its depth under the liquid surface. The degradation...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ultramicroscopy 2004-11, Vol.101 (2-4), p.47-54
Main Authors: Fragola, A., Aigouy, L., Mignotte, P.Y., Formanek, F., De Wilde, Y.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Fluorescence
Microscopy, Fluorescence - instrumentation
Microscopy, Fluorescence - methods
Microspheres
Near-field optical microscopy
Scanning microscopy
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Summary:We show that apertureless scanning near-field optical microscopes that use sharp vibrating conical tips can be operated in liquid environments. We have investigated the damping of the tip oscillation as a function of its shape and as a function of its depth under the liquid surface. The degradation of the quality factor from 150 in air down to 15 in liquid does not impede to perform topographic and optical measurements with a very good sensitivity. As an example of application, we present near-field fluorescence images of dye-doped polystyrene spheres immersed in a liquid.
ISSN:0304-3991
1879-2723
DOI:10.1016/j.ultramic.2004.04.002