The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 25, 1995
Filed:
Jul. 15, 1993
Eric L Buckland, Raleigh, NC (US);
Sumitomo Electric Lightwave Corp., Research Triangle Park, NC (US);
Abstract
A fiber optic probe is disclosed for use as a signal collector and illuminator in Near Field Scanning Microscopy (NSOM) and Photon Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (PSTM) and the like. The tip of the probe is designed to reduce local mode coupling in favor of optical scattering as the primary signal transduction mechanism in order to maximize resolution. The optical fiber used is of sufficient numerical aperture to allow efficient capture and transfer to a detector of photons scattered at the probe tip. Further, the rate of taper between the probe tip and the transmission fiber is controlled to minimize signal loss in the transition as well as to minimize signal loss when the probe is used as an illumination source.