Scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) has become a powerful tool to directly visualize the optical properties of solids on ultrasmall length scales, far beyond the diffraction limit of light. Using this technology fascinating phenomena like propagating phonon [1] or plasmon-polaritons [2,3], the formation of metallic puddles in vanadium dioxide [4], and even mid-infrared absorption bands of single molecules [5] could be visualize with <10nm spatial resolution. Over the last years steady-state near-field microscopy has been extended towards time-resolved microscopy by combining s-SNOM with femtosecond pump-probe experiments [6-8]. This development opened a complete new world for solid-state research, making it possible to study ultrafast dynamics of atoms and electrons in their natural environment – with up to 10fs temporal and 10nm spatial resolution. This talk will introduce the basic functionalities of s-SNOM with recent applications in life science, polymer research, plasmonics, and ultrafast microscopy. The example will highlight the broad application range of s-SNOM and underline the fundamental new insight into solid-state physics that can be gain with this technology.

References

[1] S. Dai, et al., Science 343, 1126 (2014)

[2] J. Chen, et al., Nature 487, 77 (2012)

[3] Z. Fei, et al., Nature 487, 82 (2012)

[4] M. M. Qazilbash, et al., Science 318, 1750 (2007)

[5] I. Amenabar, et al., Nature Communications 4, 2890 (2013)

[6] M. Wagner, et al., Nano Letters 14, 894 (2014)

[7] M. Wagner, et al., Nano Letters 14, 4529 (2014)

[8] M. Eisele, et al., Nature Photonics 8, 841 (2014)