Apertureless near field optical microscopy:: a contribution to the understanding of the signal detected in the presence of a background field

Apertureless scanning near field optical microscopy techniques have become a common way of studying surface samples. By using a nano-probe that scatters the electromagnetic non-propagative waves emerging from a given sample, this microscopy provides optical images with a resolution beyond the diffraction limit. Despite a great diversity of works covering a wide variety of physical domains, the formation of the images obtained is not yet fully understood. The purpose of this letter is to assess the influence of the tip position and imposed oscillation of the tip in apertureless SNOM when a background field is added to the scattered near field. We propose a simple analytical model which enables us to account for the experimental results and explains how, depending on the experimental conditions, the near field signal can totally disappear or, on the contrary, be greatly enhanced. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.