Patent ID: 7529158

Claim:
An optical near-field generator comprising: a light source; a waveguide which propagates light emitted by the light source; and an electroconductive scatterer configured to generate an optical near-field by plasmon resonance, the plasmon resonance being excited by light entered into the electroconductive scatterer from the waveguide, wherein the electroconductive scatterer includes a first generation point region configured to generate an optical near-field by plasmon and a region other than the first generation point region, wherein the first generation point region is thicker than the region other than the first generation point region, wherein a length of the electroconductive scatterer between a first generation point of the optical near-field and a second generation point of the optical near-field is not longer than a wavelength of the light entered into the electroconductive scatterer, and material of the electroconductive scatterer are set so as to generate the optical near-field by plasmon resonance, and wherein the first generation point is in the first generation point region and the second generation point is in the region other than the first generation point region.