Reproducible optical fiber tips for photon scanning tunneling microscopy with very small (<5/spl deg/) cone angle

• Published in: Journal of lightwave technology Vol. 16; no. 7; pp. 1220 - 1227
• Main Authors: Klini, A., David, T., Bourillot, E., Emonin, S., Papadopoulos, P., Goudonnet, J.P., Kotrotsios, G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.07.1998; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Subjects: Atomic force microscopes; Atomic force microscopy; Atomic measurements; Chemicals; Conventional optical microscopes; Etching; Exact sciences and technology; Instruments, apparatus, components and techniques common to several branches of physics and astronomy; Optical fibers; Optical instruments, equipment and techniques; Optical microscopy; Physics; Probes; Reproducibility of results; Scanning probe microscopes, components and techniques; Scanning tunneling microscopes; Silicon compounds; Tunneling; Near field; Optical fibers; Atomic force microscopy; Microscope tips; Photon scanning tunneling microscopy; Multimode waveguide; Chemical etching; Experimental study
• ISSN: 0733-8724; 1558-2213
• DOI: 10.1109/50.701400

Sharp optical fiber tips for photon scanning tunneling microscopes (PSTMs) have been fabricated by employing a new alternative technique for etching multimode optical fibers. The tip diameter is less than 30 mm, while the cone full-angle can be as sharp as 3/spl deg/. To the knowledge of the authors, such tips are the sharpest reported up to now. Measurements, with 19 tips, of the evanescent wave decay distance produced by frustrated reflection of light on a same sample, show good reproducibility. Furthermore, the PSTM images, taken with the new tips, are very sharp and fit with images of the same sample obtained with an atomic force microscope (AFM).