Laser fabrication of gold nanoparticle clustered tips for use in apertureless near-field scanning optical microscopy

A laser fabrication method was developed to make gold nanoparticle clustered (GNC) tips for apertureless near-field scanning optical microscopes (ANSOMs) and tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS). The near-field Rayleigh and Raman scattering of samples are highly enhanced when a gold nanoparticle cluster is synthesized on the end of the tip. This is due to the lightning rod effect in the sharp tips. The localized electromagnetic field enhancement and the spatial resolution (~30 nm) of the fabricated GNC tip were verified by TERS and ANSOM measurements of carbon nanotubes.