An Apertureless Scanning Near-Field Optical Microscope Probe with a Lateral Resolution of 10 – 15 nm Observed with a Semiconductor Structure

Abstract

Using InSb/GaSb semiconductor quantum dots, we demonstrate the lateral spatial resolution of scattering apertureless near-field microscope equal to 10 – 15 nm at a wavelength of λ = 10.7 μm provided by a single-mode CO₂ laser. The measurement conditions make it possible to undoubtedly exclude any artifacts caused by the sample topography and other similar factors. We identify the strongly localized in-plane near-field signal with a two-dimensional electron gas clamped on the InSb/GaSb interface of quantum dots.