Enhanced light confinement in a near-field optical probe with a triangular aperture

Phys Rev Lett. 2002 Nov 18;89(21):210801. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.210801. Epub 2002 Oct 31.

Abstract

We present a probe concept for scanning near-field optical microscopy combining the excellent background suppression of aperture probes with the superior light confinement of apertureless probes. A triangular aperture at the tip of a tetrahedral waveguide (full taper angle approximately 90 degrees ) shows a strong field enhancement at only one rim when illuminated with light of suitable polarization. Compared to a circular aperture of equivalent size, the resolution capability is doubled without loss of brightness. For a approximately 60 nm sized triangular aperture, we measured an optical resolution <40 nm and a transmission of approximately 10(-4).