Observation of optical near-field as photo-induced surface relief formation

The spatial distribution and the polarization condition of the optical near -field has successfully been visualized for the first time. It is realized in connection with the photo-induced surface relief formation on the azoben zene functionalized polymer film that had been reported so far only on the optical far-field condition. In this study, the observation was performed f or linear and circular polarized light irradiation. The proposed technique is considered to be as a simple and an effective method to analyze the opti cal near-field.