title: Apertureless near-field optical microscopy: influence of the illumination conditions on the image contrast.
abstract: We report a hybrid microscope composed of an apertureless scanning near-field optical microscope and a commercial atomic force microscope. We discuss the optical origin of the near-field images of a test sample. We show that the optical images have a sharp contrast that depends on the illumination parameters: the state of polarization and the angle of incidence of the incident light.
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Adam
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Royer
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Laddada
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Bijeon