OBSERVATION OF TOPOGRAPHY AND OPTICAL-IMAGE OF OPTICAL-FIBER END BY ATOMIC-FORCE MODE SCANNING NEAR-FIELD OPTICAL MICROSCOPE

A scanning near-field optic/atomic force microscope (SNOAM) was improv ed using a novel optical fiber probe. The optical fiber probe has a mi rror grounded on the ridge for the optical lever of AFM. The resonant characteristics of the optical fiber probe were adequate for a noncont act AFM cantilever: the typical Q factor and resonant frequency were 5 74 and 10.9 kHz, respectively. The topographical and optical resolutio n of the SNOAM was better than 100 nm for a standard sample of chromiu m patterns on a quartz substrate. The SNOAM successfully provided topo graphies and optical images of optical fiber ends simultaneously. Thes e images indicated that the optical pattern of the core was markedly i nfluenced by the surface roughness of the optical fiber end.