Simple reflection scanning near-field optical microscope using the back reflected light inside the laser cavity as detection mode

Abstract

A new simple and compact technique of optical detection in reflection SNOM is proposed and developed. It consists of detecting the perturbation induced in a laser cavity by the reflected light coming from the sample. Two cases have been studied: the first one involves a classical HeNe laser and the second one exploits the properties of a pigtailed laser diode. Whereas the HeNe laser is too unstable to provide exploitable images, highly compact pigtail diodes could be an interesting alternative to usual beam-splitter techniques.