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Updated: Aug 20, 2026

Assembly, Tuning and Use of an Apertureless Near Field Infrared Microscope for Protein Imaging
Published on: November 25, 2009
New dimension in nano-imaging: breaking through the diffraction limit with scanning near-field optical microscopy
Akiko Rasmussen1, Volker Deckert
1ISAS-Institute for Analytical Sciences, Bunsen-Kirchhoff-Str. 11, 44139 Dortmund, Germany.
Abstract:
In recent years scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) has developed into a powerful surface analytical technique for observing specimens with lateral resolution equal to or even better than 100 nm. A large number of applications, from material science to biology, have been reported. In this paper, two different kinds of near-field optical microscopy, aperture and scattering-type SNOM, are reviewed together with recent studies in surface analysis and biology. Here, near-field optical techniques are discussed in comparison with related methods, such as scanning probe and standard optical microscopy, with respect to their specific advantages and fields of application.
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