Direct mapping of the far and near field optical emission of nano-sized tapered glass fibers by an integrated SNOMrSF system

We describe a versatile scanning near-field optical microscope SNOM.integrated with a shear force SF.sample probe separation controller. The system works with special tapered optical fibers as the probing element. These fibers are fabricated by using a technique proposed earlier by Ohtsu et al. wM. Ohtsu, Optoelectronic devices and technology, 10 2. 1995.147x. We describe here the SNOM system we developed giving details on the fabrication of the fibers. Then we show the first direct bi-dimensional mapping of the optical emission of these tips as measured by our system in an original 2 tip configuration mode. q1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved