Scan head for spectroscopic NSOM system

当工程复杂系统的长度尺度小于人类头发直径的千分之一时，纳米技术开始实现其前景。为了观察这种新结构的行为，并验证它们是否按照设计建造，一种经济有效的方法是使用一根超细的针，在离结构非常近的地方振动。这种针通过触觉和视觉“读取”局部表面——感知力的微小变化，并将“卡”在表面附近的光线转换成自由传播的光线。在适当的位置小心地将“泵浦”光引入系统，可以使样品发出具有特定颜色混合的光，或者改变其他纳米结构的“感觉”。在渥太华大学，我们一直在建造一个先进的纳米系统表征设施，以了解和验证创纪录的高效太阳能电池、微型激光器和外来传感器阵列的性能。所需的设备完成了一个价值25万美元的设施的分阶段建设，并使其运行。所要求的扫描头组件和纳米对准器将与先前购买的组件集成：扫描头控制系统，共聚焦光学显微镜和超低光探测光谱仪。光泵浦光是从共享使用设施中现有的高功率、宽带可调谐染料激光器获得的。

Nanotechnology begins to realize its promise when engineered complex systems are built on length scales less than one-thousandth the diameter of a human hair. A cost-effective means of seeing how such new structures behave, and verifying that they have been built as designed, uses an ultra-fine needle vibrating extremely close to the structure. This needle "reads" the local surface through both touch and sight - sensing minute changes in force, and transforming light otherwise "stuck" close to the surface into that which travels freely. The careful introduction of "pump" light into systems at just the right spot can cause the sample to give off light with a particular blend of colours, or to change the "feel" of other nanostructures. At the University of Ottawa, we have been constructing an advanced nanosystems characterization facility to understand and validate the performance of record high efficiency solar cells, miniature lasers, and exotic sensor arrays. The desired equipment completes the staged construction of a quarter-million-dollar facility and renders it operational. The requested scan head assembly and nanoaligner will be integrated with the previously purchased components: the scan head control system, confocal optical microscope and ultra-low-light-level-detection spectrometer. Optical pump light is acquired from an existing high-power, broadband tunable dye laser in a shared-use facility.