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)
Department of Precision Instruments, State Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement Technology and Instruments, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
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.
Received: 28 January 2002
Revised: 23 April 2002
Accepted manuscript online:
Fund: 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
Cite this article:
Sun Li-Qun (孙利群), Wang Jia (王佳), Hong Tao (洪涛), Tian Qian (田芊) A virtual optical probe based on evanescent wave interference 2002 Chinese Physics 11 1022
SETUP AND APPLICATION OF SCANNING NEAR-FIELD OPTICAL MICROSCOPY Xu Shi-fa (许世发), Zhu Xing (朱星), Zhou He-tian (周赫田), Shen Yu-min (沈玉民), Fei Teng (费滕), Zhang Yu (张宇), Yin Yan (尹彦), Zhang Bei (张蓓), Dai Lun (戴伦), Liu Xiao-ling (刘晓玲), Hu Jian-cheng (胡建成), Lu Ping (卢萍), Zhai Zhong-he (翟中和). Chin. Phys. B, 2001, 10(13): 195-205.
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