title: Influence of metal roughness on the near-field generated by an aperture/apertureless probe.
abstract: We study the influence of metal roughness on the near-field distribution generated by an aperture or an apertureless (scattering) probe. Different experimental parameters are investigated: roughness magnitude, aperture form, distribution of the roughness. Our results show that aluminium roughness has a dramatic impact on the emission characteristics of a near-field probe and in particular on its polarization sensitivity. Apertureless or scattering probes appear to be less sensitive to roughness and to provide a well confined field even with a somewhat rough probe.
authors.affiliation: Electromagnetic Fields and Microwave Electronics Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH-Zentrum ETZ, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland. martin@ifh.ee.ethz.ch
authors.forename: O J F
authors.initials: OJ
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paulus