中国物理B ›› 2002, Vol. 11 ›› Issue (10): 1022-1027.doi: 10.1088/1009-1963/11/10/310

• CLASSICAL AREAS OF PHENOMENOLOGY • 上一篇    下一篇

A virtual optical probe based on evanescent wave interference

孙利群, 王佳, 洪涛, 田芊   

  1. Department of Precision Instruments, State Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement Technology and Instruments, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
  • 收稿日期:2002-01-28 修回日期:2002-04-23 出版日期:2005-06-12 发布日期:2005-06-12
  • 基金资助:
    Project supported by the State Key Development Programme for Basic Research of China (Grant No G1999033002), by the Tsinghua University 985 Foundation for Optical Information Storage (the Subproject of Near-field Optical Storage) and by the China Postdoct

A virtual optical probe based on evanescent wave interference

Sun Li-Qun (孙利群), Wang Jia (王佳), Hong Tao (洪涛), Tian Qian (田芊)   

  1. Department of Precision Instruments, State Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement Technology and Instruments, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
  • Received:2002-01-28 Revised:2002-04-23 Online:2005-06-12 Published:2005-06-12
  • Supported by:
    Project supported by the State Key Development Programme for Basic Research of China (Grant No G1999033002), by the Tsinghua University 985 Foundation for Optical Information Storage (the Subproject of Near-field Optical Storage) and by the China Postdoct

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摘要： A virtual probe is a novel immaterial tip based on the near-field evanescent wave interference and small aperture diffraction, which can be used in near-field high-density optical data storage, nano-lithography, near-field optical imaging and spectral detection, near-field optical manipulation of nano-scale specimen, etc. In this paper, the formation mechanism of the virtual probe is analysed, the evanescent wave interference discussed theoretically, and the sidelobe suppression by small aperture is simulated by the three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method. The simulation results of the optical distribution of the near-field virtual probe reveal that the transmission efficiency of the virtual probe is 102－104 times higher than that of the nano-aperture metal-coated fibre probe widely used in near-field optical systems. The full width at half maximum of the peak, in other words, the size of virtual probe, is constant whatever the distance in a certain range so that the critical nano-separation control in the near-field system can be relaxed. We give an example of the application of the virtual probe in ultrahigh-density optical data storage.

Abstract: A virtual probe is a novel immaterial tip based on the near-field evanescent wave interference and small aperture diffraction, which can be used in near-field high-density optical data storage, nano-lithography, near-field optical imaging and spectral detection, near-field optical manipulation of nano-scale specimen, etc. In this paper, the formation mechanism of the virtual probe is analysed, the evanescent wave interference discussed theoretically, and the sidelobe suppression by small aperture is simulated by the three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method. The simulation results of the optical distribution of the near-field virtual probe reveal that the transmission efficiency of the virtual probe is 102－104 times higher than that of the nano-aperture metal-coated fibre probe widely used in near-field optical systems. The full width at half maximum of the peak, in other words, the size of virtual probe, is constant whatever the distance in a certain range so that the critical nano-separation control in the near-field system can be relaxed. We give an example of the application of the virtual probe in ultrahigh-density optical data storage.

Key words: near-field optics, evanescent wave interference, virtual probe, finite-difference time-domain method

中图分类号:  (Interference)

  • 42.25.Hz
42.79.Ag (Apertures, collimators) 42.25.Fx (Diffraction and scattering) 02.70.Bf (Finite-difference methods)