A scanning near-field optical microscope

A design of a scanning near-field optical microscope with a digital control system is described. A fiber tip with a curvature radius of similar to 500 Angstrom, obtained with the technique of anisotropic etching of a single-mode fiber end and coated with Al is used as an aperture. The microscope has an improved vibration isolation, allowing the investigation of objects without additional vibration isolation. The sample scanning range is 10 x 10 mu m, the maximum height of viewed irregularities is 2 mu m, and the thermal drift is below 70 Angstrom/degrees C. The microscope resolving power for test objects is similar to 200 Angstrom.