IMAGING THE FIELD OVER A REFLECTION PHASE GRATING BY AN APERTURELESS PHOTON SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPE

Results of a photon scanning tunnelling microscopy study of the plane diffraction grating with nickel stripes on a quartz substrate are repo rted. The ripples in the optical images with period of 600 nm have bee n observed when the plane of incidence of laser beam was perpendicular to the grooves of the grating. The interference patterns for the prop agating modes in far field have been detected. They are supposed to be the result of Mie scattering of evanescent wave by the elements of th e diffraction grating.