Near field optical latent imaging with the photon tunneling microscope

The phenomenon of photon tunneling, which depends on evanescent waves for radiative transfer, has important applications in microscale energy conversion devices and near-field optical microscopy. In recent years, there has been a surge of interest in the so-called negative index materials (NIMs), which have simultaneously negative electric permittivity and negative magnetic permeability. The present work investigates photon tunneling in multilayer structures consisting of positive index materials (PIMs) and NIMs. Some features, such as the enhancement of radiative transfer by the excitation of surface polaritons for both polarizations, are observed in the predicted transmittance spectra. The influence of the number of layers on the transmittance is also examined. The results suggest that the enhanced tunneling transmittance by polaritons also depends on the NIM layer thickness and that subdividing the PIM/NIM layers to enhance polariton coupling can reduce the effect of material loss on the tunneling transmittance.

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Near-Field Manipulation in a Scanning Tunneling Microscope Junction with Plasmonic Fabry-Pérot Tips

Nano Letters ◽

10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b00558 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (6) ◽

pp. 3597-3602 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Hannes Böckmann ◽

Shuyi Liu ◽

Melanie Müller ◽

Adnan Hammud ◽

Martin Wolf ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Scanning Tunneling Microscope ◽

Near Field ◽

Scanning Tunneling ◽

Tunneling Microscope ◽

Fabry Perot ◽

Field Manipulation

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Photon Tunneling via Coupling Graphene Plasmons With Phonon Polaritons of Hexagonal Boron Nitride in Reststrahlen Bands

ASME 2021 Heat Transfer Summer Conference ◽

10.1115/ht2021-62180 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ruiyi Liu ◽

Xiaohu Wu ◽

Zheng Cui

Keyword(s):

Boron Nitride ◽

Chemical Potential ◽

Hexagonal Boron Nitride ◽

Near Field ◽

Tunneling Probability ◽

Coupling Mechanism ◽

Work Study ◽

Photon Tunneling ◽

Phonon Polaritons ◽

Graphene Plasmons

Abstract The photon tunneling probability is the most important thing in near-field radiative heat transfer (NFRHT). This work study the photon tunneling via coupling graphene plasmons with phonon polaritons in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). We consider two cases of the optical axis of hBN along z-axis and x-axis, respectively. We investigate the NFRHT between graphene-covered bulk hBN, and compare it with that of bare bulk hBN. Our results show that in Reststrahlen bands, the coupling of graphene plasmons and phonon polaritons in hBN can either suppress or enhance the photon tunneling probability, depending on the chemical potential of graphene and frequency. This conclusion holds when the optiacal axis of hBN is either along z-axis or x-axis. The findings in this work not only deepen our understanding of coupling mechanism between graphene plasmons with phonon polaritons, but also provide a theoretical basis for controlling photon tunneling in graphene covered hyperbolic materials.

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Enhanced Photon Tunneling by Surface Plasmon–Phonon Polaritons in Graphene/hBN Heterostructures

Journal of Heat Transfer ◽

10.1115/1.4034793 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 139 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

B. Zhao ◽

Z. M. Zhang

Keyword(s):

Heat Transfer ◽

Surface Plasmon ◽

Chemical Potential ◽

Near Field ◽

Tunneling Probability ◽

Monolayer Graphene ◽

Field Energy ◽

Support Surface ◽

Photon Tunneling ◽

Phonon Polaritons

Enhancing photon tunneling probability is the key to increasing the near-field radiative heat transfer between two objects. It has been shown that hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) and graphene heterostructures can enable plentiful phononic and plasmonic resonance modes. This work demonstrates that heterostructures consisting of a monolayer graphene on an hBN film can support surface plasmon–phonon polaritons that greatly enhance the photon tunneling and outperform individual structures made of either graphene or hBN. Both the thickness of the hBN films and the chemical potential of graphene can affect the tunneling probability, offering potential routes toward passive or active control of near-field heat transfer. The results presented here may facilitate the system design for near-field energy harvesting, thermal imaging, and radiative cooling applications based on two-dimensional materials.

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Scanning probe microscopy: A new technology takes off

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100162363 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 48 (3) ◽

pp. 959-959

Author(s):

Virgil Elings

Keyword(s):

Scanning Probe Microscopy ◽

Scanning Tunneling Microscope ◽

New Technology ◽

Near Field ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Scanning Tunneling ◽

Thin Sample ◽

Tunneling Microscope ◽

Atomic Force ◽

Electron Microscopes

With the expanding use of the scanning tunneling microscope, the technology is developing into other scanning near field microscopes, microscopes whose resolution is determined by the size of the probe, not by some wavelength. The first available “son of STM” will be the atomic force microscope (AFM), a very low force profilometer which has atomic resolution and can profile non-conducting surfaces. The hope is that this microscope may find more applications in biology than the scanning tunneling microscope (STM), which requires a conducting or very thin sample.In the past five years, the STM has progressed from curiosity to everyday lab tool, imaging surfaces with scans from a few nanometers up to 100 microns. When compared to an SEM, the STM has the advantages of higher resolution, lower cost, operation in air or liquid, real three-dimensional output, and small size. The disadvantages are smaller scan size, slower scan speeds, fewer spectroscopic functions and, of course, not as many of the nice features of the more mature electron microscopes. The AFM has similar features to the STM except that the detector and profiling tips are more complicated and more difficult to operate—disadvantages that will decrease with time.

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