NON-OPTICAL SHEAR-FORCE DETECTION FOR SCANNING NEAR-FIELD OPTICAL MICROSCOPE

A non-optical shear-force detection method for use with a scanning nea r-field optical microscope (SNOM) is proposed. Electrodes on a piezoel ectric bimorph are designed so that one part is used for vibrating the scanning probe and the other for detecting the vibration. This provid es a very compact actuator-detector pair without any need for optical. alignment. Comparison with conventional laser detection shows good co rrelation for a probe approach curve. A simple method of analyzing the lock-in detected signal for quick and convenient examination of the r esonance of the probe is demonstrated.