NSF Award
0340259
0340259<br/><br/>This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I research project will develop near-field<br/>scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) probes with dramatically increased transmission efficiency<br/>that will lead to increased spatial resolution and higher scan speed. High transmission<br/>efficiency will be achieved by incorporation of newly discovered near-field surface<br/>plasmon affects. NSOM probes using surface plasmon enhancement will have 2-3 orders of<br/>magnitude higher transmission than existing probes, allowing faster scanning speeds as<br/>well as better spatial resolution. A combination of first principles modeling and nanofabrication<br/>of test structures in Phase I will provide proof of concept as well as a guide<br/>for Phase II optimization.<br/><br/>This program will push the fundamental scientific understanding of near-field<br/>optics while simultaneously enhancing the capabilities of commercial NSOM metrology<br/>instruments, which have wide applicability in nanotechnology development, lithography and metrology.<br/>Plasmon optics have potential applications to a broad range of areas where high efficiency and subwavelength sizes are required including the integration of optics with microelectronics, spatial and spectral<br/>optical multiplexing, and data storage applications.
