G. Behme et al., VACUUM NEAR-FIELD SCANNING OPTICAL MICROSCOPE FOR VARIABLE CRYOGENIC TEMPERATURES, Review of scientific instruments, 68(9), 1997, pp. 3458-3463
We describe the design of a novel near-held scanning optical microscop
e for cryogenic temperatures and operation in vacuum. A helium flow cr
yostat is used for active temperature control of the sample in the ran
ge between 8 and 330 K, while all components of the near-field microsc
ope are kept at room temperature. This design greatly simplifies near-
field microscopy at variable sample temperatures and permits large pie
zoelectric scan ranges of up to 100X100X10 mu m(3), the implementation
of hardware-linearized piezoelectric scan stages, as well as flexible
coarse positioning. First experiments with single GaAs quantum wires
demonstrate the excellent performance of this new instrument. (C) 1997
American Institute of Physics.