Patent ID: 7053351

Claim:
A near-field scanning optical microscope (NSOM) for laser machining a feature on a surface of a microstructure workpiece using an ultrafast laser source, the NSOM comprising: the ultrafast laser source to generate pulses of laser light having pulse durations less than 1 ns and a peak wavelength; an NSOM probe having a substantially cylindrical shape, the NSOM probe including: an input plane at one end of the NSOM probe; a probe tip at another end of the NSOM probe with a cross-sectional area less than a square of the peak wavelength of the pulses of laser light; an optically transmissive core extending substantially from the input plane to the probe tip, the optically transmissive core portion being optically coupled to the ultrafast laser source through the input plane; and a radiation confinement coating formed on a section of a side surface of the NSOM probe adjacent to the probe tip; an NSOM mount to controllably hold the NSOM probe and the microstructure workpiece, the NSOM mount including; an XY motion stage coupled to one of the NSOM probe or the microstructure workpiece; and a Z motion stage coupled to one of the NSOM probe or the microstructure workpiece; an NSOM probe monitor coupled to the NSOM mount for determining a distance between the probe tip of the NSOM probe and the surface of the microstructure workpiece; an NSOM controller coupled to the NSOM probe monitor, the XY motion stage, and the Z motion stage, the NSOM controller controlling; a vertical position of the one of the NSOM probe or the microstructure workpiece coupled to the Z motion stage based on the distance between the probe tip of the NSOM probe and the surface of the microstructure workpiece determined by the NSOM probe monitor; and a horizontal position of the one of the NSOM probe or the microstructure workpiece coupled to the XY motion stage based on the feature to be laser machined on the surface of the microstructure workpiece.