Optical microcantilever consisting of channel waveguide for scanning near-field optical microscopy controlled by atomic force

We develop a novel optical microcantilever for scanning near-field optical microscopy controlled by atomic force mode (SNOM/AFM). The optical microcan tilever has the bent channel waveguide, the corner of which acts as apertur e with a large tip angle. The resonance frequency of the optical microcanti lever is 9 kHz. and the spring constant is estimated to be 0.59 N/m. The op tical microcantilever can be operated in contact mode of SNOM/AFM and we ob tain the optical resolution of about 200 nm, which is as same size as the d iameter of aperture. We confirm that the throughput of optical microcantile ver with an aperture of 170 nm diameter would be improved to be more than 1 0(-5).