Development of Near-field Optical Microscope with Birefringence Contrast

摘要

A new optical configuration for a near field scanning optical microscope with birefringence contrast imaging is described. A fast and accurate birefringence measurement system has been installed into an illumination mode near field microscope. Birefringence is measured by using left and right hand circularly polarized laser beams with different frequencies, which are generated by an axial Zeeman laser. A sample is illuminated by the light of two circularly polarized components through a fiber probe tip. The measurement characteristic of the developed system and images of birefringence material are shown.