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:
Aug. 20, 1996
Filed:
Mar. 24, 1994
Bennett B Goldberg, Newtonville, MA (US);
Hadi F Ghaemi, Brookline, MA (US);
Trustees of Boston University, Boston, MA (US);
Abstract
A near-field optical microscope is provided having a tip or tapered optical fiber light guide mounted directly in a hole drilled in the center of a microlens which itself is mounted in a piezoelectric tube for dithering. The tip of the tapered fiber is positioned at the front focal point of the lens. Light emanating from the region just about the tip is thus collected and collimated by the lens. A second lens, further down the optical path next focuses the beam into another fiber for transmission to a photon detection and/or spectroscopic apparatus. This second fiber can alternatively be replaced by one or more image processing lenses or a coherent fiber bundle with the light being transmitted to a position sensitive detector to provide a direct image of the tip region. The microscope also includes a shear force dithering apparatus for control of fiber tip to sample distance.