MICROSCOPY Vol.44▶No.3 2009
â– Feature Articles: High-resolution Structural Analysis of Biological Macromolecules

New microscope combines optical and electrical excitation into a single scanning tunneling microscope unit for simultaneous characterization of near-field luminescence from individual nanostructures

Hiroo Omi, Ilya Sychugov, Yoshihiro Kobayashi and Toru Murashita

Abstract: For the purpose of simultaneous electrical and optical characterization of light emission from individual nanostructures on semiconductor surfaces at the near-field, we developed a new microscope in which optical and electric excitation is combined into a single scanning tunneling microscope-based unit through the optical design of transparent probes. We describe the proof-of-concept measurements on GaAs and GaAs/AlAs heterostructures.

Key words: Scanning tunneling electron microscopy, luminescence, nanoscale-imaging, near-filed light