SCANNING TUNNELING OPTICAL MICROSCOPY BREAKING A RESOLUTION BARRIER

It has been suggested that scanning tunnelling optical microscopy (STO M) is not capable of supplying super-resolution optical images. Images of a borosilicate prism surface are presented that show optical contr ast on scales down to 30 Angstrom. Such results are fortuitous but hav e been reproduced. Image interpretation and contrast generation is exa mined and diffraction at the probe, rather than scattering, is the mos t important mechanism for super-resolution. With this in mind, a novel probe design is suggested with the view to making super-resolution ST OM images readily attainable.