STTR Phase II: Surface Plasmon Enhanced High Efficiency Near-Field Probes

这个小型企业技术转移(STTR)第二阶段项目将进一步开发利用表面等离子体增强的高效近场扫描光学显微镜(NSOM)探头的结构和制造技术。金属薄膜中的波长尺度表面形貌(光栅)允许金属界面上的表面等离子体与自由空间中的光子之间的耦合，通过亚波长光孔提供显著的传输增强。探测器的光学和地形分辨率为20纳米，功率吞吐量大于10微瓦。与现有的锥形光纤NSOM探头相比，这意味着分辨率提高了5-10倍，透射率提高了1000倍。该计划将包括紧密联系的制造、理论建模和表征活动，以确保有效的优化。等离子激元结构将与光纤集成，产生可与现有锥形光纤探头直接互换的NSOM探头。除了改进的NSOM探测器的初步开发外，对等离子体-光学相互作用的基础科学理解的进步将有助于其他等离子体器件的未来发展。从商业上讲，拟议的计划将增强NSOM计量仪器的能力，这些仪器在纳米技术开发中具有广泛的适用性。根据第一阶段的结果，这项工作有望显著提高测量速度和改善分辨率。拟议的工作是大面积、高速NSOM仪器商业化的关键一步。虽然本项目特别关注NSOM尖端，但等离子体光学在需要高效率和亚波长尺寸的广泛领域具有潜在的应用，包括光学与微电子、空间和光谱光学多路复用以及数据存储应用的集成。

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project will further develop structures and manufacturing techniques for high efficiency near-field scanning optical microscope (NSOM) probes utilizing surface plasmon enhancement. Wavelength scale surface topography (gratings) in metal films allow coupling between surface plasmons at the metal interface and photons in free space, providing significant transmission enhancement through sub-wavelength apertures. Probes with 20 nanometers optical andtopographic resolution combined with power throughput greater than 10 microwatts are projected. This represents a factor of 5-10 improvement in resolution and a thousand fold improvement in transmission over existing tapered fiber NSOM probes. The program will include closely linked fabrication, theoretical modeling, and characterization activities to ensure efficient optimization. The plasmon structures will be integrated with optical fibers to produce NSOM probes that can be directly interchanged with existing tapered fiber probes. In addition to the primary development of improved NSOM probes, advancements to the fundamental scientific understanding of plasmon-optical interactions will aid in the future development of other plasmonic devices.Commercially the proposed program will enhance the capabilities of NSOM metrology instruments, which have wide applicability in nanotechnology development. Based on Phase I results, significant increases in measurement speed and improved resolution can be expected from this effort. The proposed effort is a key step in commercialization of a large area, high speed NSOM instrument. While this project focuses specifically on NSOM tips, 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 optical multiplexing, and data storage applications..