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Spectroscopic scanning near‐field optical microscopy with a free electron laser: CH 2 bond imaging in diamond films
Author(s) -
Cricenti A.,
Generosi R.,
Luce M.,
Perfetti P.,
Margaritondo G.,
Talley D.,
Sanghera J. S.,
Aggarwal I. D.,
Gilligan J. M.,
Tolk N. H.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of microscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.569
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2818
pISSN - 0022-2720
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2818.2001.00874.x
Subject(s) - diamond , materials science , microscopy , scanning electron microscope , scanning confocal electron microscopy , laser , optics , free electron laser , optoelectronics , physics , composite material
Hydrogen chemistry in thin films and biological systems is one of the most difficult experimental problems in today's science and technology. We successfully tested a novel solution, based on the spectroscopic version of scanning near‐field optical microscopy (SNOM). The tunable infrared radiation of the Vanderbilt free electron laser enabled us to reveal clearly hydrogen‐decorated grain boundaries on nominally hydrogen‐free diamond films. The images were obtained by SNOM detection of reflected 3.5 µm photons, corresponding to the C–H stretch absorption, and reached a lateral resolution of 0.2 µm, well below the λ/2 (λ= wavelength) limit of classical microscopy.