Fabrication of optical micro-cantilever consisting of channel waveguide for scanning near-field optical microscopy controlled by atomic force

We developed a novel optical micro-cantilever for scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM), evaluated its mechanical properties, and applied it for SNOM. A cantilever-shaped channel waveguide with an aperture is bent and it is operated in atomic force mode. By combining the conventional lithography techniques and the waveguide bending process, we can fabricate a probe with the shape and the mechanical properties most desirable for given samples and conditions. Our optical micro-cantilever has resonance frequency similar to the conventional optical fiber probe, and it has a spring constant much smaller. We used this optical micro-cantilever for SNOM in contact mode, and confirmed that it gives optical images with a resolution beyond the diffraction limit.