Focused ion-beam fabrication of fiber probes with well-defined apertures for use in near-field scanning optical microscopy

Abstract

We present a focused ion-beam (FIB) fabrication method for very clean and well-defined subwavelength fiber probes with metallic apertures of a desired diameter for use in near-field scanning optical microscopy. Such probes exhibit improved features compared to probes coated with metal by the conventional angled evaporation technique. Examples of FIB fabricated fiber probes are shown and images of a test sample are presented using one of the probes in a near-field microscope.