Showing papers by "Olivier J. F. Martin published in 1997"

Controlling and tuning strong optical field gradients at a local probe microscope tip apex

Abstract: We show that strong optical field gradients can be created at the tip apex of a local probe microscope illuminated by an external light source. We demonstrate that these confined fields can be easily, precisely and continuously tuned by changing the polarization and the incidence of the external field. We also investigate the topology of the field intensity in the tip–surface junction.

Optical magnetic near-field intensities around nanometer-scale surface structures

Abstract: Recently, local probes used in optical experiments added a new dimension to the study of the optical properties of small particles lying on a surface. Until now, several theoretical frameworks, developed to understand the interaction of optical fields with mesoscopic and nanoscopic objects, emphasized mainly the prediction of the electric near-field distributions generated by these structures. This paper demonstrates how such subwavelength dielectric surface structures also produce a particular confinement of the optical magnetic near field when the sample is illuminated by a surface wave.

Optical Microscopy in the Nano-World

Abstract: Scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) is an optical microscopy whose resolution is not bound to the diffraction limit. It provides chemical information based upon spectral, polarization and/or fluorescence contrast images. Details as small as 20 nm can be recognized. Photophysical and photochemical effects can be studied with SNOM on a similar scale. This article reviews a good deal of the experimental and theoretical work on SNOM in Switzerland.