We have used polarized confocal Raman microspectroscopy and scanning near-field optical microscopy with a resolution of 60 nm to characterize photoinscribed grating structures of azobenzene doped polymer films on a glass support. Polarized Raman microscopy allowed determining the reorientation of the chromophores as a function of the grating phase and penetration depth of the inscribing laser i...

Novel scanning probe microscopy (SPM) spectroscopic techniques are currently receiving much attention. The increasing number of spectroscopic techniques, when combined with the high spatial resolution that is attainable with SPM, makes it possible to probe a large range of material characteristics on the nanoscopic scale. The ability to probe samples on the nanoscale with femtosecond time resol...

Date The final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signatories, and we find that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards of scholarly work in the above mentioned discipline. Thesis directed by Professor Markus Raschke Scattering scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) is a powerful technique for measuring spectroscopic properties of materials with s...

The method of fluorescence resonance energy transfer scanning near-field optical microscopy (FRET SNOM) consists in the separation of a FRET pair between an SNOM tip and a sample. The donor (or acceptor) centre is located at the tip apex and scanned in the vicinity of a sample while acceptor fluorescence (or donor-fluorescence quenching) is detected. It is shown that the spatial resolution for ...

Zigzag ZnS thin films prepared by thermal evaporation method using glancing angle deposition (GLAD) technique. ZnS films with zigzag structure were produced at deposition angles of 0˚, 60˚ and 80˚ at room temperature on glass substrates. Surface morphology of the films w:as char:acterized by using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The optical properties of the specimens were i...

Near-field scanning optical microscopy enables the simultaneous topographical and subdiffraction limited optical imaging of surfaces. A process is presented for the implementation of single individually engineered gold cones at the tips of atomic force microscopy cantilevers. These cantilevers act as novel high-performance optical near-field probes. In the fabrication, thin-film metallization, ...

Using a near-field scanning optical microscope (NSOM), crystals of zinc-porphyrin network materials are characterized with respect to morphology and fluorescence. Needle-shaped crystals are observed. While the topography is flat, the fluorescence intensity profile in the width direction is approximately triangular. A numerical calculation shows that differences between the topographic and optic...

Individual carbocyanine dye molecules in a sub-monolayer spread have been imaged with near-field scanning optical microscopy. Molecules can be repeatedly detected and spatially localized (to approximately lambda/50 where lambda is the wavelength of light) with a sensitivity of at least 0.005 molecules/(Hz)(1/2) and the orientation of each molecular dipole can be determined. This information is ...

Near-field scanning optical microscopy was used to observe high-resolution images of confined modes and photonic bands of planar photonic crystal ~PPC! nanocavities fabricated in active InGaAsP material. We have observed the smallest optical cavity modes, which are intentionally produced by fractional edge dislocation high-Q cavity designs. The size of the detected mode was roughly four by thre...