title: Transient optical elements: application to near-field microscopy.
abstract: We report methods of near-field infrared microscopy with transient optically induced probes. The first technique - a transient aperture (TA) - uses photoinduced reflectivity in semiconductors to generate a relatively large transient mirror (TM) with a small aperture at its centre. We report the optical properties of the TM and TA and experiments performed on near-field imaging with the TA. The second technique is based on solid immersion microscopy, in which high resolution is achieved when light is focused inside a solid with a high refractive index. By creating a transient Fresnel lens on the surface of a semiconductor wafer via photoinduction, we were able to form a solid immersion lens (SIL) for use as a near-field probe. The use of transient probes eliminates the need for mechanical scanning of the lens or sample, and thus provides a much faster scanning rate and the possibility to work with soft and liquid objects.
authors.affiliation: Picosecond Free Electron Laser Center, W.W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-4085, USA. simanovski@stanford.edu
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Simanovskii
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Palanker
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cohn
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Smith