Abstract

We propose a new type of fiber probe with a nanometric protruding tip emerging from a metal film and describe a novel method, called the selective resin-coating method, for fabricating such probes. It is a reproducible etching process consisting of four steps and can be applied to silica fibers sharpened by selective chemical etching. With this method, we obtained tips with the apex diameter and the foot diameter of the protrusion being less than 10 and 30 nm, respectively, when the gold film was ∼120 nm thick.

© 1997 Optical Society of America

Fabrication of a pencil-shaped fiber probe with a nanometric protrusion from a metal film for near-field optical microscopy

Shuji Mononobe, R. Uma Maheswari, and Motoichi Ohtsu
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Near-field optical imaging of flagellar filaments of salmonella in water with optical feedback control

M. Naya, R. Micheletto, S. Mononobe, R. Uma Maheswari, and M. Ohtsu
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Parameter control, characterization, and optimization in the fabrication of optical fiber near-field probes

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Fabrication and characterization of optical-fiber nanoprobes for scanning near-field optical microscopy

N. Essaidi, Y. Chen, V. Kottler, E. Cambril, C. Mayeux, N. Ronarch, and C. Vieu
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