title: Simulation of near-field scanning optical microscopy using a plasmonic gap probe.
abstract: Imaging by near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) with a plasmonic gap probe (PGP) is simulated to confirm the operation of the recently proposed PGP. The simulations demonstrate that the probe works in illumination, collection-reflection and collection mode, and that is it not necessary to vibrate the probe tip in order to remove background noise. The resolution of the scanned image is also shown to be approximately equal to the diameter of the probe tip. Furthermore, the throughput of the probe is much higher than conventional aperture probes providing similar resolution. The proposed probe thus has the advantages of both aperture probes and scattering probes, and is expected to have excellent characteristics for use as a scanning probe for NSOM.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronics and Computer Engineering, Gifu University, Yanagido 1-1, Gifu City 501-1193, Japan. tanaka@tnk.info.gifu-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Kiyofumi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Katayama