DEVICE, APPARATUS AND SYSTEM FOR USE IN PHOTONICS, NANOTECHNOLOGY, MICROSCOPY AND BIOLOGY

摘要

The present invention relates to devices, equipment and systems useful in the investigation in several fields where highly confined light beams are useful and/or necessary, in particular the present invention relates to the far-field imaging applications. The apparatus according to the present invention is useful in photonics, nanotechnology, microscopy and biology, in particular in optogenetics investigation characterized in that it comprises at least one apertureless optical fibre (TOF). Preferably, said TOF is partially coated or completely coated by a metal film. According to the present invention, said apertureless optical fibre shows a light profile intermediate between a 0 order Bessel function J0 and a top hat function. This light profile has a light profile sharper than that emitted from a cleaved optical fibre and the light intensity is confined entirely in the inner region and no photons are present in the outer region, thus reducing to zero the background signal.