Carl-zeiss-stiftung

Martin Volcker

Robert Grub

Martin Gluch

Wolfgang Wormann

A probe array for a scanning microscope has numerous individual probes that respectively have a probe tip on one or more beams. The individual probes are arranged in the form of a two-dimensional grid such that the directions of the beams include with respect to the directions of the grid an angle which is not equal to 0.degree. or 180.degree.. The grid spacings in both mutually perpendicular directions can be smaller than the length of the beams, due to the inclined arrangement of the beams relative to the translation vectors of the grid formed by the probe tips (3a-3p). The two beams (4a, 5a) of each individual probe are mutually arranged in a V-shape to form a mutually nested arrangement of the individual probes.

Probe array for a scanning probe microscope

The invention relates to an ancillary module 7 for making spatially resolved measurements of the focus volume of a light beam focussed by a microscope objective 4. The light beam is especially a laser beam. The invention includes a carrier assembly having a glass plate 8 and sleeves (9, 10) mounted thereon. A piezoelectric scanning tube 12 is held on the sleeves (9, 10) essentially perpendicularly to the glass plate 8. The scanning tube 12 operates to move an optical near-field probe 13a in three mutually perpendicular directions. The optical near-field sensor is preferably a glass fiber 13 which has a tip 13a at one end thereof. This tip 13a scans the laser focus volume. At the other end of the glass fiber 13, either a photodiode 14 is provided with which the light coupled into the glass fiber is detected or a corresponding light detector can be adapted by means of an interface. The two sleeves (9, 10) are displaceable relative to each other for coarsely positioning the scanning tube 12. In addition, position detectors (18a, 18b) for determining the deflection of the piezoelectric scanning tube 12 and luminescent diodes (17a, 17b) for illuminating the fiber tip 13a can be provided. The fiber tip 13a can be illuminated by the luminescent diodes and this tip can be observed for positioning the ancillary module 7 in the viewing field of the microscope 1.

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Konigsbronn-Zang, Germany

Martin Volcker