Patent ID: 8173965

Claim:
A high resolution material observation system, comprising: an object having at least one spatial dimension sufficient to support production of near-field infrared emissions; a holder adapted to receive a sample to be observed, wherein one of the object and the sample operates as a near-field infrared source, and wherein one of the object and the sample is a near-field infrared receiver, the near-field infrared receiver being different than the near-field infrared source, and wherein the holder is further adapted to position the sample so as to place the near-field infrared receiver in the near-field infrared emissions produced by the near-field infrared source; and a thermal excitation unit, adapted to be thermally coupled conductively to the near-field infrared source so as to conduct thermal energy to and thermally excite the near-field infrared source, thereby generating a temperature difference between the object and the sample so as to cause black body radiation within the infrared spectrum.