The theoretical investigation for improvement of scanning near-field optical microscope

A near-field optical microscope on the basis of two trapeziform metallic strips on the surface of a dielectric cone is investigated(1). It is shown that such construction of a near-field probe significantly improved the optical efficiency of a near-field microscope. The field distribution in the vicinity of probe apex is investigated for this probe and for the usual SNOM probe. On the basis of mathematical simulation it was shown that this type of a near-field microscope is promising for use in optical information recording with pit length less than 200 nm and also for using as optical heating element in magnetic information recording. The construction of a near field microscope for information recording is proposed on the basis of this near-field microscope and a solid immersion lens(2). The model of a near field strips probe with cleaved apex is proposed. A method of checking the distance between a probe and the surface on the basis of exciting mechanical vibration of cleaved apex by voltage step is offered. The oscillation amplitude and their attenuation are determined by measuring high-frequency electromagnetic oscillation, which are excited by oscillation of opposite charges at the apex of a probe. The investigation was carried out on the basis of a mathematical model and an experiment is needed for full investigation.