Widely tuneable scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy using pulsed quantum cascade lasers

Edward Yoxall; Miguel Navarro-Cía; Mohsen Rahmani; Stefan A. Maier; Chris C. Phillips

doi:10.1063/1.4832859

Widely tuneable scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy using pulsed quantum cascade lasers

Edward Yoxall, Miguel Navarro-Cía, Mohsen Rahmani, Stefan A. Maier, Chris C. Phillips

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review

20 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We demonstrate the use of a pulsed quantum cascade laser, wavelength tuneable between 6 and 10 μm, with a scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscope (s-SNOM). A simple method for calculating the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the s-SNOM measurement is presented. For pulsed lasers, the SNR is shown to be highly dependent on the degree of synchronization between the laser pulse and the sampling circuitry; in measurements on a gold sample, the SNR is 26 with good synchronization and less than 1 without. Simulations and experimental s-SNOM images, with a resolution of 100 nm, corresponding to λ/80, and an acquisition time of less than 90 s, are presented as proof of concept. They show the change in the field profile of plasmon-resonant broadband antennas when they are excited with wavelengths of 7.9 and 9.5 μm.

Original language	English
Article number	213110
Number of pages	6
Journal	Applied Physics Letters
Volume	103
Issue number	21
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4832859
Publication status	Published - 18 Nov 2013
Externally published	Yes

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title = "Widely tuneable scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy using pulsed quantum cascade lasers",

abstract = "We demonstrate the use of a pulsed quantum cascade laser, wavelength tuneable between 6 and 10 μm, with a scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscope (s-SNOM). A simple method for calculating the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the s-SNOM measurement is presented. For pulsed lasers, the SNR is shown to be highly dependent on the degree of synchronization between the laser pulse and the sampling circuitry; in measurements on a gold sample, the SNR is 26 with good synchronization and less than 1 without. Simulations and experimental s-SNOM images, with a resolution of 100 nm, corresponding to λ/80, and an acquisition time of less than 90 s, are presented as proof of concept. They show the change in the field profile of plasmon-resonant broadband antennas when they are excited with wavelengths of 7.9 and 9.5 μm.",

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note = "Funding Information: Authors are grateful to H. Aouani for stimulating discussion. This work was funded by the EPSRC [Grant No. EP/G031819/1]. M.N.-C. was supported by the Imperial College Junior Research Fellowship.",

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AU - Yoxall, Edward

AU - Navarro-Cía, Miguel

AU - Rahmani, Mohsen

AU - Maier, Stefan A.

AU - Phillips, Chris C.

N1 - Funding Information: Authors are grateful to H. Aouani for stimulating discussion. This work was funded by the EPSRC [Grant No. EP/G031819/1]. M.N.-C. was supported by the Imperial College Junior Research Fellowship.

PY - 2013/11/18

Y1 - 2013/11/18

N2 - We demonstrate the use of a pulsed quantum cascade laser, wavelength tuneable between 6 and 10 μm, with a scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscope (s-SNOM). A simple method for calculating the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the s-SNOM measurement is presented. For pulsed lasers, the SNR is shown to be highly dependent on the degree of synchronization between the laser pulse and the sampling circuitry; in measurements on a gold sample, the SNR is 26 with good synchronization and less than 1 without. Simulations and experimental s-SNOM images, with a resolution of 100 nm, corresponding to λ/80, and an acquisition time of less than 90 s, are presented as proof of concept. They show the change in the field profile of plasmon-resonant broadband antennas when they are excited with wavelengths of 7.9 and 9.5 μm.

AB - We demonstrate the use of a pulsed quantum cascade laser, wavelength tuneable between 6 and 10 μm, with a scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscope (s-SNOM). A simple method for calculating the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the s-SNOM measurement is presented. For pulsed lasers, the SNR is shown to be highly dependent on the degree of synchronization between the laser pulse and the sampling circuitry; in measurements on a gold sample, the SNR is 26 with good synchronization and less than 1 without. Simulations and experimental s-SNOM images, with a resolution of 100 nm, corresponding to λ/80, and an acquisition time of less than 90 s, are presented as proof of concept. They show the change in the field profile of plasmon-resonant broadband antennas when they are excited with wavelengths of 7.9 and 9.5 μm.

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Widely tuneable scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy using pulsed quantum cascade lasers

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