Patent ID: 7339738

Claim:
A nanomechanical near-field grating apparatus, comprising: (a) a fixed sub-grating supported on a substrate and having a plurality of line-elements, with each adjacent pair of the line-elements being spaced apart by a first distance which is less than or equal to an operating wavelength; (b) a moveable sub-grating suspended above the substrate by a plurality of springs and being located substantially parallel to the fixed sub-grating and vertically separated therefrom by a second distance which is substantially equal to or less than the operating wavelength, with the moveable sub-grating having another plurality of line-elements spaced apart by the first distance; (c) a light source providing light at the operating wavelength incident onto the moveable and stationary sub-gratings; and (d) a detector located proximate to the moveable and fixed sub-gratings to detect a portion of the light after reflection from or transmission through the moveable and fixed sub-gratings.