Near field scanning optical microscope and applications thereof

Abstract: An optical system for near field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) includes a probe (20) that comprises a planar optical waveguide. This waveguide is tapered in at least one dimension, and at least an apical portion of the waveguide is coated with an opaque material. The taper is adapted such that radiation propagating in the taper region is substantially interconverted between a dielectric mode and a metallic mode.

Description: Field of the Invention This invention relates to instruments for near field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM). Art Background Various NSOM microscopes have been previously reported. For example, R.E. Betzig et al. have described an NSOM microscope using a probe that transmits light with relatively high efficiency, is very reliable, and gives relatively high image resolution. (See European Patent Application EP-A-0 487 233, published May 27, 1992). This probe comprises a tapered and at least partially metallized single-mode optical fiber. One disadvantage of probes made from cylindrical bodies such as optical fibers is that they are difficult to manufacture in closely spaced arrays, for example, for parallel reading or writing operations. According to the present invention, there is provided an optical system as defined in claim 1. Particular embodiments of the invention are defined in claims 2-8. The invention is an NSOM optical system having a probe that comprises a planar waveguide. Planar waveguides are readily manufactured in closely spaced arrays. Thus, one advantage of the inventive optical system is that it can be made with multiple, closely spaced probes integrated on a single substrate. Another advantage is that a planar waveguide probe can be made very compactly. The optical system comprises a probe having a longitudinal axis and a distal end, an optical aperture defined in the distal end, means for optically coupling a light source to the probe such that at least some electromagnetic radiation emitted by the source, at least at a given wavelength, enters or exits the probe through the aperture, and means for displacing the probe relative to an object. At least a portion of the probe is optically transmissive at least at the given wavelength, and the aperture has at least one dimension smaller than the given wavelength. The probe comprises a portion of a planar optical waveguide having a core and a cladding, there being associated with the waveguide at least one guided dielectric mode for radiation of the given wavelength. The waveguide has a taper region that is adiabatically tapered such that at least a portion of the taper region can guide radiation of at least the given wavelength, and this taper region has a taper length and a taper angle. The taper region terminates in a substantially flat end face oriented in a plane substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, and the aperture is defined in or adjacent the end face. At least a portion of the waveguide in the taper region is coated with an opaque material which has a relatively small penetration depth for electromagnetic radiation of the given wavelength, defining a metallic waveguide portion capable of guiding a metallic mode of radiation of the given wavelength. The taper angle and taper length are adapted such that radiation propagating in the taper region is substantially interconverted between the dielectric and metallic modes. Brief Description of the Drawings FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing of an optical system of the prior art that is useful for near-field scanning optical microscopy. FIG. 2 is a schematic drawing of an alternative prior art optical system useful for near-field scanning optical microscopy. FIGS. 3 and 4 schematically depict alternate embodiments of the inventive probe as a tapered, planar waveguide. Detailed Description In one embodiment, the invention includes features of optical systems of the prior art. Turning to FIG. 1, such an optical system includes a light source 10, a probe 20, displacement means 30 for displacing the probe relative to an object 40 disposed, exemplarily on a stage 50, adjacent the probe tip 60. The optical system further comprises means for optically coupling light source 10 to probe 20. In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, the optical coupling is provided by a single-mode optical fiber 70 extending between light source 10 and probe 20. Light source 10 is exemplarily a laser. Light from source 10 is readily injected into the optical fiber by way, e.g., of a single-mode coupler 80, which includes a microscope objective 90 and a fiber positioner 100. A mode stripper 110 is also optionally included in order to insure that only the single mode in the core is propagated to the probe, and not other modes in the cladding. The displacement means 30 may, for example, be a piezoelectric tube adapted for moving the probe vertically as well as in two orthogonal lateral dimensions. Alternatively, the displacement means may be mechanical or piezoelectric means for moving the stage rather than the probe, or some combination of stage-displacement and probe-displacement means. One possible use for an optical system as described is for direct writing. That is, the sample surface proximate the probe tip may be coated with a photosensitive layer that is capable of being exposed by light emitted form the light source. An exposure pattern is created in the photosensitive layer by displacing the probe relative to the sample, while light from the light source is continuously or intermittently emitted from the probe tip. A second possible use for an optical system as described is for imaging of the sample in a so-called "illumination" mode. According to this application, light from the probe tip is transmitted through the sample and collected below the stage (as shown in FIG. 1) by microscope objective 120. (Illustrated is an illumination-transmission mode; and illumination-reflection mode is also readily practiced.) The collected light is directed into detector 130, which is exemplarily a photomultiplier tube. For visual positioning of the probe, it is also desirable to include a beamsplitter 140, which directs a portion of the collected light into an eyepiece 150. Significantly, when the sample is scanned by a raster-like displacement of the probe, the signals from detector 130 can be reconstructed to produce an image of the sample portion that has been scanned. Such scanning methods are employed in near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM), in which the probe tip is brought to within a very small distance of the sample surface, typically less than a wavelength of the light emitted by the light source. NSOM provides very high optical resolution by also employing an aperture in the probe tip that is very small, also typically less than one wavelength. Yet a third possible use for an optical system as described is shown in FIG. 2. In the arrangement of FIG. 2, the probe tip serves as a collector of light rather than as an emitter of light. Such an arrangement is useful, e.g., for NSOM imaging in a so-called "collection" mode. (Illustrated is a collection-reflection mode. A collection-transmission mode is also readily practiced.) Light from light source 10 is directed via tilted mirror 160 and tilted annular mirror 170 to annular objective lens 180. Lens 180 focuses the light onto the sample surface. Light reflected or emitted from the surface is collected by the probe tip and directed via fiber 70 and objective 120 to detector 130. The detector (or, more generally, the transducer) 130 converts the detected light to electrical signals. These signals are readily used to create a two-dimensional image on a video display device such as a cathode-ray tube. For such purpose, a scan generator is used to control the displacement of the probe relative to the object and to provide a reference signal for constructing the displayed image. The electrical signals generated by transducer 130 are typically analog signals. These are optionally converted to digital signals before they are displayed. In such a case, a digital memory is optionally provided for storing the digitized signals, and a digital processor is optionally provided to process the digitized signals (for, e.g., image enhancement) before they are displayed. A tapered optical fiber as described, e.g., in European Patent Application EP-A-0 487 233, cited above, is only one example of a broader class of optical waveguides that can be used as probes in accordance with the invention. The general characteristic of such probes is that they have a portion distal the probe tip which supports at least one propagating, dielectric mode of electromagnetic radiation, and a portion proximal the probe tip at least part of which supports evanescent or propagating metallic modes. Such a probe has a core region and at least one cladding region. The dielectric mode or modes are determined by the boundary conditions at the interface between the core and the cladding. By contrast, the metallic mode or modes are defined by the boundary conditions at least at one metal layer (or, more generally, an opaque layer having a penetration depth much smaller than the wavelength of the guided radiation) which is situated adjacent the cladding, distal the core region. At least a portion of the probe is tapered at an angle β, and the tapered portion includes both dielectric and metallic waveguide regions. At least partly as a result of the taper, an electromagnetic wave propagating in the probe is transformed between dielectric and metallic modes as it passes between the respective regions. The angle β is "adiabatic" in the sense that the dielectric region of the waveguide guides light of the low-order dielectric modes to the metallic region with high efficiency. If, by contrast, the taper were too sharp (i.e., β too large), a substantial fraction of the radiation injected into these modes in the dielectric region would be lost to retroreflection and scatter. It is preferable for the dielectric region to support relatively few, e.g., less than 10, propagating modes, and more preferably, only one such mode. It is an advantageous property of dielectric waveguides that although the injected radiation can be efficiently coupled into the cladding, which may present a relatively large cross section to the radiation source, the injected radiation can be limited to only one or a few propagating modes that are bound to the core. By contrast, more than 10, and even as many as one million or more, propagating modes will typically be excited when radiation is injected into a hollow metal waveguide, or a metal waveguide filled with a single, dielectric material, which has a diameter of, e.g., 100 µm. When such a waveguide is tapered, a substantial fraction of the propagating radiation is likely to couple into radiative modes which are retroreflected, absorbed. or scattered out of the waveguide. Consequently, this fraction fails to propagate to the metallic portion, where the surviving light is confined to subwavelength dimensions. Each propagating dielectric mode has a typical electric field profile. The amplitude of this profile, at the cladding outer surface, is initially insignificant relative to the amplitude at the core, even if a metal layer or coating is absent. This condition assures that dielectric, and not metallic, modes are present. In the absence of a metal coating or layer, the amplitude at the cladding outer surface increases within the taper region as the width or diameter of the waveguide decreases. As a consequence, there is some part of the taper region where the boundary conditions imposed by the metal layer or coating become comparable in importance to the dielectric boundary conditions. This condition defines a transition region. At one end of the transition region, the mode is predominantly dielectric in character, and at the other end it is predominantly metallic in character. Energy will be efficiently coupled between, e.g., the lowest propagating dielectric mode and the least evanescent metallic mode if there is a large overlap integral between these modes. It is important for the waveguide to be hybrid in character, with a dielectric portion as well as a metallic portion. The dielectric portion makes it possible to efficiently couple radiation from a conventional light source into a few well-confined dielectric modes in the probe, and/or to couple radiation from a few such modes into a conventional light detector. The dielectric portion also provides substantially lossless transmission of radiation through the tapered region during, e.g., illumination-mode operation. Near the tip, by contrast, the waveguide should be metallic in character, because a metallic waveguide provides much better confinement of the electromagnetic field. Whereas the optimum confinement in a purely dielectric waveguide (as defined by the full width at half-maximum of the components of the electromagnetic field) is about λ / 2 (i.e.,one-half the guided wavelength), a metallic waveguide can provide confinement as good as λ / 10 or even better. Because light is efficiently coupled into the waveguide and efficiently transferred between the dielectric and metallic portions, relatively large signal-to-noise ratios can be achieved. This, in turn, makes it feasible to use relatively small apertures, thereby achieving relatively high image resolution. Moreover, coupling into a few well-confined modes tends to suppress radiative losses through pinholes in the opaque layer or coating, which can otherwise result in an undesirably high background radiation level. This enhances the reliability of processes for manufacturing probes. One example of a waveguide structure useful in this regard, alternative to an optical fiber waveguide, is a thin-film waveguide disposed on a planar substrate. We believe that useful embodiments of the inventive probe can be based on this as well as other alternative waveguide structures, provided that such structures include the general characteristics described above. Probes based on optical fibers, thin-film waveguides, or other waveguiding structures will typically terminate in an end flat, with an optical aperture defined in the end flat. However, in some cases it may be desirable to admit or emit light through an aperture formed at or near the edge of the terminal end flat. Such an aperture is readily formed adjacent to the end flat by, e.g., overcoating the end flat with opaque material, and then removing opaque material down to an appropriate plane. Such a plane will be inclined relative to the waveguide longitudinal axis, and will intersect the end flat at or near an edge thereof. A thin-film waveguide disposed on a planar substrate has several advantageous properties. For example, a probe based on this kind of waveguide can be mass produced in large groups on single substrates such as silicon wafers using, e.g. lithographic processing, resulting in reduced unit cost. Moreover, probes of this kind can be manufactured in large arrays for use, e.g., in applications which require parallel reading or writing operations. Such a waveguide would comprise vitreous or non-vitreous material, and would include a core layer, a cladding layer underlying the core layer, and, optionally, a cladding layer overlying the core layer. (In some embodiments, a portion of the upper surface of the core layer may be effectively in direct contact with air or the ambient atmosphere or vacuum, which, by virtue of the refractive index difference across the contacting surface, would behave like an upper cladding.) An example of a so-called "channel waveguide" 400, formed, e.g., on a planar surface of a silicon substrate 410, is illustrated in FIG. 3. Well-known methods of material deposition, such as chemical vapor deposition or sputter deposition, are used to form layers 420 - 460. The lateral extent of one or more layers is exemplarily defined by lithographic patterning and etching. The deposited layers include lower opaque layer 420 and upper opaque layer 460, which are composed of a material having a relatively short penetration depth for the electromagnetic radiation that is to be guided. (By a "short" penetration depth is meant a depth which is much smaller than the relevant wavelength λ, exemplarily, λ / 10 or less.) The deposited layers further include lower cladding layer 430, optional upper cladding layer 450, and core layer 440. Exemplary compositions for the respective layers are: for opaque layers, aluminum (desirable for relatively high opacity) or chromium (desirable for relatively high melting point); and for the core and cladding layers, silica-based glass. In a planar waveguide of the kind described herein, the TE 01 mode will generally be the sole propagating metallic mode if the width W of the waveguide is less than λ / 2n, where λ is the guided wavelength and n is the refractive index of the cladding. (By the width W is meant the thickness of the combined core and cladding layers.) This mode will be the only mode of practical significance in the metallic portion of the waveguide. This mode will be strongly linearly polarized, with the electric field vector oriented perpendicular to the metal coating. The electromagnetic field components of this mode are described, e.g., in J.B. Marion and M.A. Heald, Classical Electromagnetic Radiation , 2d. Ed., Academic Press, New York (1980) p.191. For a sufficiently small core in the dielectric region, there will generally be two propagating modes, namely the TE 0 and the TM 0 modes. The electromagnetic field components of these modes are described, e.g., in A.W. Snyder and J.D. Love, Optical Waveguide Theory , Chapman and Hall, London (1983), p.242. At least a portion of core layer 440 is adiabatically tapered at angle β. The taper is exemplarily formed by varying, according to longitudinal position, the exposure time of the substrate to the source of depositing core material and the source of depositing cladding material. (It is preferable to maintain an approximately constant ratio of core thickness to cladding thickness in the taper region.) The waveguide terminates in an end flat 480, which may be defined by the edge of the substrate during the deposition process or, alternatively, by cutting and polishing the substrate after deposition. The optical aperture is defined in the end face by the spacing between the opaque layers. As long as the transverse length L of the aperture is greater than λ / 2n, defined above, the terminal portion of the waveguide will support at least one propagating metallic mode, regardless of the width W of the waveguide. As a consequence, the waveguide can additionally be tapered in the transverse direction, as long as the relation L> λ / 2n is satisfied. This additional taper, depicted in FIG. 4, is exemplarily formed by lithographically patterning and etching the waveguide. As noted, the metallic waveguide portion will typically have a single propagating mode that is linearly polarized. This polarization effect is very useful for magneto-optical imaging, in which image contrast is produced as a result of the rotation of the plane of polarization of light in an appropriate medium by magnetic fields. Appropriate optical elements are readily provided for coupling electromagnetic radiation into or out of probe 400 from or to, e.g., an optical fiber. However, in preferred embodiments, an optical fiber is not used. Instead, a diode laser is coupled to rear face 500 either directly, or through a planar waveguide. It is expected that mode coupling from probe 400 to a diode laser will be more efficient than mode coupling to an optical fiber because like the probe, a diode laser has a linear geometry, whereas an optical fiber has a circular geometry. A probe such as probe 400 will be especially useful for applications which require miniaturization of components. Those applications might include, for example, consumer electronics which read data or audio or video information from a dense optical or magneto-optical storage medium.

Claims: A near field scanning optical system, comprising: a probe (20), at least a portion of which is optically transmissive at least at a given wavelength, the probe having a longitudinal axis and a distal end (60); an optical aperture defined in the distal end of the probe, the aperture having at least one dimension smaller than the given wavelength; means (70,80) for optically coupling a light source (10) to the probe such that at least some electromagnetic radiation emitted by the source, at least at the given wavelength, enters or exits the probe through the aperture; and means (30) for displacing the probe relative to an object (40,50), wherein: a) the probe comprises a portion of an optical waveguide (400) having a core (440) and a cladding (430,450) extending along said longitudinal axis, there being associated with the waveguide at least one guided dielectric mode for radiation of the given wavelength b) the waveguide has a taper region, having a taper length and a taper angle (β), said region being tapered along said longitudinal axis in the direction of said distal end, at least a portion of the taper region being capable of guiding radiation of at least the given wavelength; c) the taper region terminates at the distal end in a substantially flat end face (480) oriented in a plane substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, the aperture being defined in or adjacent the end face; d) at least a portion of the waveguide in the taper region is coated with an opaque material (420, 460) which has a relatively small penetration depth for electromagnetic radiation of the given wavelength, defining a metallic waveguide portion capable of guiding a metallic mode of radiation of the given wavelength; and e) the taper angle and taper length are adapted such that radiation propagating in the taper region is substantially interconverted between the dielectric and metallic modes; CHARACTERIZED IN THAT f) the waveguide is a planar waveguide; and g) the core is a layer (440) having a thickness which, in the taper region, decreases progressively along said longitudinal axis in the direction of said distal end. The optical system of claim 1, further comprising: a source (10) of electromagnetic radiation constituting said light source, the light source being coupled to the probe by said optical coupling means (70,80); a scan generator for driving the displacement means (30) such that the probe is displaced in a raster pattern adjacent a portion of a surface of the object; transducive means (130) for detecting at least a portion of the radiation from the light source which enters or exits the probe, and for generating an electrical signal in response to the detected radiation; an optical element (150) for viewing at least a portion of the probe and at least a portion of the object; and means for reconstructing an image of the object-surface portion from signals received from the transductive means. The optical system of claim 2, wherein the transducive means are adapted to generate analog electrical signals, and the system further comprises means for converting the analog electrical signals to digital signals and transmitting the digital signal to a video display means constituting said image reconstructing means. The optical system of claim 3, further comprising storage means for digitally recording at least a portion of the digital signals. The optical system of claim 4, further comprising means for digitally processing the digital signals, the digital processing means being in receiving relationship with the analog-to-digital conversion means and in transmissive relationship to the video display means. The optical system of claim 1, further comprising: a source (10) of electromagnetic radiation capable of stimulating the object (40) to reflect or emit radiation at least at the given wavelength; and means (50) for supporting the object relative to the radiation source and the probe such that at least a portion of the radiation emitted by the source impinges on the object and at least a portion of the radiation reflected or emitted by the object enters the probe through the optical aperture, thereby effecting said optical coupling of the light source to the probe. The optical system of claim 1 or claim 6, wherein the waveguide is formed on a principal surface of a substrate (410) and comprises a core layer (440), at least one cladding layer (430,450) of refractive index n adjacent the core layer, and at least one layer (420,460), adjacent the cladding layer, that is opaque to radiation of the given wavelength. The optical system of claim 7, wherein: a) the aperture has a length L in the direction parallel to the end face and parallel to the substrate surface; b) L is greater than λ/2n, where λ is the given wavelength; c) the aperture has a width W in the direction parallel to the end face and perpendicular to the substrate surface; and d) W is about λ/10 or less.

Inventors: BETZIG ROBERT ERIC, TRAUTMAN JAY KENNETH, BETZIG, ROBERT ERIC, TRAUTMAN, JAY KENNETH
Applicants: AT & T CORP, AT&T CORP.
Application year: 1993
Main classification: G02B21
IPC codes: G11B33, G11B5, G01B11, G01N13, G11B27, G12B21, G01N37, G02B21, G11B9