Abstract

We present experimental results of an imaging technique that uses as a local probe the optical field enhanced at the junction of a scanning tunneling microscope illuminated by a $p$-polarized laser beam. Images of highly oriented pyrolithic graphite, recorded at a constant height mode, show a lateral optical resolution of as much as 10 nm. Approach curves exhibit sensitivity on a subnanometer scale of the optical signal to the tip–sample distance, yielding the ultrahigh vertical resolution reached in the images.

© 2000 Optical Society of America

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