Nanostructure fabrication with laser radiation in the nearfield of a scanning-probe microscope tip

Summary form only given. A scanning-probe microscope tip externally illuminated with laser radiation was used for nanomodification of metal and plastic surfaces in air. This FOLANT-technique (focusing of laser radiation in the nearfield of a tip) is based on a local intensity enhancement of optical radiation near a small object (curvature radius much smaller than the laser wavelength) with appropriate dielectric constant. Intensity enhancement on small objects is well known from the surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Here, the small particle is replaced by a scanning-probe microscope tip.