Non-optical bimorph-based tapping-mode force sensing method for scanning near-field optical microscopy

A non-optical bimorph-based tapping-mode force sensing method for tip-sample distance control in scanning near-field optical microscopy is developed. Tapping-mode force sensing is accomplished by use of a suitable piezoelectric bimorph cantilever, attaching an optical fibre tip to the extremity of the cantilever free end and fixing the guiding portion of the fibre to a stationary part near the tip to decouple it from the cantilever. This method is mainly characterized by the use of a bimorph, which carries out simultaneous excitation and detection of mechanical vibration at its resonance frequency owing to piezoelectric and anti-piezoelectric effects, resulting in simplicity, compactness, ease of implementation and lack of parasitic optical background. In conjugation with a commercially available SPM controller, tapping-mode images of various samples, such as gratings, human breast adenocarcinoma cells, red blood cells and a close-packed layer of 220-nm polystyrene spheres, have been obtained. Furthermore, topographic and near-field optical images of a layer of polystyrene spheres have also been taken simultaneously. The results suggest that the tapping-mode set-up described here is reliable and sensitive, and shows promise for biological applications.