S. Ducourtieux

Comparison of test images obtained from various configurations of scanning near-field optical microscopes

The characteristics of a few experimental near-field optical microscopes, located in different laboratories, have been compared on the basis of their ability to image a well-defined submicrometer test object.

Nanometer scale apertureless near field microscopy

It is necessary to use the information contained in the near field to get sub-wavelength details in optical imaging which are not revealed through the far-field image. We have designed and built various setups able to perform near-field measurements in the UV, visible and IR, both in transmission, reflection and dark field with a resolution of 10 nm, independent of the wavelength but related to the tip size. Images revealing local dielectric contrasts, small particle effects, as well as local field enhancements in random structures, are shown.

Localized plasmon-enhanced optical response: harmonic generation and polarization effects

It is now known that plasmon oscillations supported by nanostructured metal thin films of fractal morphology, can result in large local fields and strong enhancement of optical phenomena, for example Raman scattering. The localized plasmons, acting like nano-antennas, can concentrate very large electromagnetic energy in nanometer- sized areas, hot spots, and provide particularly strong enhancement of optical responses, in a very broad spectral range. Our new experimental results show up position dependence of the hot spots on the polarization state of the light. Moreover as expected from recent theoretical predictions, on this kind of thin percolating films, there is a dramatic enhancement of the second harmonic generation (2(omega) ) out of the specular directions. This unusual diffuse SHG could be connected to possible chirality of the percolating metallic films, which is expected to manifest itself as change in the hot-spot distribution for the left and right circularly polarized incident light.

Scanning near-field optical microscopy: local probes and enhanced electromagnetic fields

Enhanced electromagnetic fields are investigated, both theoretically and experimentally, on two model systems using high spatial resolution. Strong field enhancements at the apex of a tungsten tip illuminated by an external light source are studied as a function of the incident polarization. The surface of percolating random metal- dielectric films consist of several spectral resonances, which have been calculated and are observed here in near field with 10 nm lateral resolution.