Acquisition of a Combined Scanning Near-Field Optical and Atomic Force Microscope
Abstract
This project supported a new universal scanning microscope system combining near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM), conventional atomic force (AFM) microscopy, and confocal optical microscopy. To build a universal system capable of high-resolution topographical imaging concurrently with spectroscopic abilities, the authors have acquired several independent units and combined them into a custom-designed NSOM/AFM/Raman instrument. They have acquired an atomic force microscope (Multimode, Digital Instruments), a near-field scanning microscope (Aurora III, Digital Instruments, partially supported by NASA), and a SpectraPro Raman spectrograph from Roper. In addition to these major instruments, they acquired a number of supporting parts/instruments toward their goal of completion of the system and sample preparation, selection, and characterization for Raman studies (e.g., CCD camera, avalanche detectors, two lasers, optical parts, air table, fluorescence microscope, mini x-ray unit, etc). A post-doctoral Research Associate was in charge of putting all these parts together. The authors did not go with a single unit from WiTec because actual demonstrations did not show expected sensitivity. This report presents a description of the instrument and preliminary results obtained with it. The instrument was used to collect Raman spectra from patterned arrays of bent single wall carbon nanotubes and bundles (3 nm in diameter) and from freely suspended nanomembranes with encapsulated gold nanoparticles.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 18, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA431069
Entities
People
- Vladimir V. Tsukruk
Organizations
- Iowa State University