The resolution of conventional optical microscope is intrinsically limited by the optical diffraction, therefore it cannot be used in the measurement of sub-100nm shape and structural detection. Non-optical imaging techniques are not limited by the optical diffraction. For example, scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), but both of them have the weakness of narrow view field, low efficiency, and excessive cost. To detect nanoscale material, a new microscopic imaging technique is introduced in this paper, i.e. the polarization parameter indirect microscopic imaging technique. A conventional reflection microscopic system is used as the basic optical system, with polarization-modulation mechanics being inserted into it. The near-field structural characteristics can be delivered by optical wave and material coupling. According to coupling and conduction physics, changes of the optical wave parameters can be calculated, and then curves of the image intensity can be obtained. By analyzing the near-field polarization parameters in nanoscale, indirect polarization parameter imaging can be established.

Date Published: 12 October 2016
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 9818, 2016 International Workshop on Information Data Storage and Tenth International Symposium on Optical Storage, 98180A (12 October 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2244823

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9818:
2016 International Workshop on Information Data Storage and Tenth International Symposium on Optical Storage
Fuxi Gan; Zhitang Song; Yang Wang, Editor(s)