SCANNING INTERFEROMETRIC APERTURELESS MICROSCOPY - OPTICAL IMAGING AT10 ANGSTROM RESOLUTION

Interferometric near-field optical microscopy achieving a resolution o f 10 angstroms is demonstrated,The scattered electric field variation caused by a vibrating probe tip in close proximity to a sample surface is measured by encoding it as a modulation in the optical phase of on e arm of an interferometer. Unlike in regular near-field optical micro scopes, where the contrast results from a weak source (or aperture) di pole interacting with the polarizability of the sample, the present fo rm of imaging relies on a fundamentally different contrast mechanism: sensing the dipole-dipole coupling of two externally driven dipoles (t he tip and sample dipoles) as their spacing is modulated.