0000000000648259
AUTHOR
Michel Nevière
Resolution of the photon scanning tunneling microscope: influence of physical parameters
Abstract The photon scanning tunneling microscope (PSTM) is the photon analogue of the electron scanning tunneling microscope (ESTM). It uses the evanescent field due to total internal reflection (TIR) of a light beam in a prism modulated by a sample placed on the base of the prism. Our experimental results shown details which present a lateral size as small as 200 A. The PSTM axial resolution is more difficult to evaluate. It is a function of the roughness of the sample. For very smooth samples, images shown an axial resolution of about 10 A. At last we discuss how both lateral and axial resolution can be affected by several parameters such as the tip surface distance and the roughness of …
Imaging of test quartz gratings with a photon scanning tunneling microscope Experiment and theory
We use the differential formalism of the electromagnetic theory of gratings to interpret the images of test sinusoidal or lamellar quartz gratings obtained with a photon scanning tunneling microscope. The period of the grating is 0.5 μm, and the height of the rule is 0.2 μm. It is shown that the images depend strongly on several parameters, such as polarization or angle of incidence, with respect to the ruling direction. A systematic study of the isointensity lines above the gratings as a function of polarization is presented, and it is shown that the image contrast can be increased or decreased depending on the sample–probe distance. To model the interaction of the fiber probe with the ele…