MULTI-DETECTION AND POLARIZATION CONTRAST IN SCANNING NEAR-FIELD OPTICAL MICROSCOPY IN REFLECTION

We present a scanning near-field optical microscope operating in refle ction suitable for simultaneous bright field and fluorescence imaging. A non-coated pulled optical fibre is used in true reflection mode, i. e. both as emitter and collector. Beam splitters, dichroic mirrors and polarisers are combined to discriminate the different wavelength and polarisation signals. The distance between fibre and sample is control led by shear force feedback. Bright field and fluorescence images with polarisation contrast of dielectric samples have been obtained with 2 00 nm lateral resolution. We show the fluorescence polarisation depend ence with the molecular orientation in application to Langmuir-Blodget t thin film domains.