Abstract

The use of Surface Plasmon Polaritons (SPP) offers unique possibilities to deliver and focus optical radiation to the nanoscale. By combining plasmon technology with the unique capabilities of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), amazing possibilities in mapping optical proprieties at the nanoscale rise. Despite this combination is already extensively used in many experiments, the process is still quite far from having reached good efficiency. Nowadays one of the main critical points is the coupling between the far field laser excitation and the plasmonic probe structure. The standard Tip Enhanced Near Field Optical Microscopy (TENOM) apparatus is based on a sideways far field illumination in order to coupling SPP along the tip [1].We have developed a different approach based on backside illumination of gold-nanocone surface plasmonic waveguide, see Fig.1 [2,3].

© 2015 IEEE