Near-Field Microscopy Through a SiC Superlens

T. Taubner, D. Korobkin, Y. Urzhumov, G. Shvets and R. Hillenbrand

Science 313, p.1595 (2006)
The wave nature of light limits the spatial resolution in classical microscopy to about half of the illumination wavelength. Recently, a new approach capable of achieving subwavelength spatial resolution, called superlensing, was invented, challenging the already established method of scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM). We combine the advantages of both techniques and demonstrate a novel imaging system where the objects no longer need to be in close proxim-ity to a near-field probe, allowing for optical near-field microscopy of subsurface objects at sub-wavelength-scale lateral resolution.