Abstract-Sub-surface nanoimaging by broadband terahertz pulse near-field microscopy

Kiwon Moon , Hongkyu Park , Jeonghoi Kim , Youngwoong Do , Soonsung Lee , Gyuseok Lee , Hyeona Kang , and Haewook Han

Nano Lett., Just Accepted Manuscript

DOI: 10.1021/nl503998v

Publication Date (Web): December 1, 2014

Copyright © 2014 American Chemical Society

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nl503998v?journalCode=nalefd

Combined with THz time-domain spectroscopy, THz near-field microscopy based on an atomic force microscope is a technique that, while challenging to implement, is invaluable for probing low-energy light-matter interactions of solid-state and biomolecular nanostructures, which are usually embedded in background media. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a broadband THz pulse near-field microscope that provides sub-surface nanoimaging of a metallic grating embedded in a dielectric film. The THz near-field microscope can obtain broadband nanoimaging of the sub-surface grating with a nearly frequency-independent lateral resolution of 90 nm, corresponding to ~λ/3300, at 1 THz, while the AFM only provides a flat surface topography.