Reflection scanning near-field optical microscopy in ultrahigh vacuum

Hoppe, S.; Ctistis, Georgios; Paggel, J. J.; Fumagalli, P.

doi:10.1063/1.1922789

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…For example, in 1999 Gray and Hsu reported on their development of a variable cryogenic temperature near-field scanning optical microscope. 8 In 2005, the development of a reflection mode NSOM capable of operation in an ultrahigh vacuum environment was reported 9 Clearly the application for which a microscope is to be used will determine its design. While the physical studies for which the above microscopes were designed require that they operate under extreme conditions (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of a Controlled Environment Near‐Field Optical Microscope for Organic Thin Film Studies

Inigo

Fann

et al. 2010

J Chinese Chemical Soc

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The requirements of a microscope differ greatly from field to field and with the sample being studied. Organic thin films are highly sensitive to environmental conditions being rapidly photobleached in the presence of oxygen. In this paper we introduce the design of a low cost near field optical microscope suitable for environmentally controlled studies. We demonstrate that reducing ambient pressure to~10 mTorr (1.3 Pa) of nitrogen (a pressure accessible with a mechanical pump) significantly reduces photo-bleaching on a typical experimental timescale. In addition, we introduce a novel non-optical feedback control mechanism combining a piezoelectric diaphragm with a tuning fork. The morphology of thin films of MEH-PPV spin cast from the polymer dissolved in chlorobenzene is investigated. These films are shown to be featureless on a 100 nm length scale in terms of topology, PL intensity and PL spectrum both before and during photo-bleaching. As far as we are aware these are the first reported thin films of MEH-PPV grown in which~100 nm sized domains are absent. We believe that the ability to control environment will not only allow better optical characterization of thin films but also opens up the possibility of the production of novel two dimensional organic photonic crystals through a combination of mechanical disruption, photo-bleaching and photo-conjugation of polymers.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%