| 摘要 |
<p>A near-field optical microscope and method of microscopy in which a probe including a flexible cantilever (3) having a sharp tip (10) is positioned in proximity to a sample (15). In one embodiment, a region (14) of the sample is irradiated with light, and one or more portions (21) of this region are caused to fluoresce. A quenching element (13) is provided at the tip (10) of the probe to quench the fluorescence of these portions within the region (14). The amount of quenching is determined while the sample is scanned to produce a high resolution image of the irradiated region (14) of the sample. In another embodiment, the fluorescence imparted to one or more portions of the irradiated region is enhanced by the interaction of an optically active element (13) disposed at the tip portion (10) of the cantilever probe which provides for sharper images with greater signal-to-noise ratios. The near-field optical microscopes according to the present invention can also be used to measure the reflection/transmission or absorption characteristics from a sample region within a distance of one wavelength of light away from the sample surface. The microscopes also include means for producing a relative scanning motion between the sample and the probe such as by raster scanner or circular scanning, for example.</p> |
