Nano-patterning photosensitive polymers using local field enhancement at the end of apertureless SNOM tips

We show experimentally that local optical field enhancement can occur at the end of an apertureless SNOM tip illuminated by an external light source. Our approach consists in the use of a photosensitive polymer, placed in the tip near-field, to record intensity distribution in the vicinity of the tip end. The excited nanometre-size light source permits us to produce nano-patterns on the polymer surface which are then characterized by atomic force microscopy. Experimental images show the influence, on the field enhancement, of three important experimental parameters: the polarization state of the incident light, the geometry of the external illumination and the radius of curvature of the tip apex. These results are shown to be in good agreement with two-dimensional numerical calculations based on the finite-difference time-domain method. We show preliminary nanometre-size patterns created by this nano-source excited at a metallic tip extremity and discuss the potential of this approach for near-field optical lithography.