Patent ID: 7235807

Claim:
A near field analysis apparatus comprising: an irradiation optical system for irradiating a sample with excitation light, the irradiation optical system comprising an irradiation-side adjustable optical system for adjusting the position and/or angle of an irradiation-side optical axis thereof, and irradiating irradiation-side guide light onto an adjustment surface via the irradiation-side adjustable optical system; a light collecting optical system for collecting detection light produced by interaction between the sample and near field light generated by the excitation light, the light collecting optical system comprising a light-collection-side adjustable optical system for adjusting the position and/or angle of a light-collection-side optical axis thereof, and irradiating light-collection-side guide light onto the adjustment surface via the light-collection-side adjustable optical system; an irradiation-side adjustment device for adjusting the position and/or angle of the irradiation-side adjustable optical system such that a spot of the irradiation-side guide light and a spot of the light-collection-side guide light, which are observed at the adjustment surface, match; and a light-collection-side adjustment device for adjusting the position and/or angle of the light-collection-side adjustable optical system such that the spot of the irradiation-side guide light and the spot of the light-collection-side guide light, which are observed at the adjustment surface, match; wherein optical-axis adjustment of the irradiation optical system and/or optical-axis adjustment of the light collecting optical system are performed using the irradiation-side adjustment device and/or the light-collection-side adjustment device, respectively.