A terahertz scanning near-field optical microscope with an attenuated total internal reflection module

The first terahertz scanning near-field optical microscope with an attenuated total internal reflection module and a free-electron laser (FEL) as the radiation source was developed. A scanning system with positioning using a confocal sensor with chromatic coding and a surface-subwavelength probe touch sensor were developed and tested. A new technique for sensing the distance between the probe and a conducting surface via corona-discharge current measurement was developed. A specific lock-in system for detection of probe-scattered pulse-periodic radiation, which includes a hot-electron superconducting bolometer and an electronic signal-storage circuit, was developed to operate with the Novosibirsk terahertz FEL. All elements of the microscope were tested, and their working capacity was demonstrated. Experiments on the detection of microscope-probe-scattered terahertz radiation have been initiated.