A Monatomic Optical Near-Field Microscope with Subnanometer Spatial Resolution

We propose the principle of operation of an optical near-field microscope on the basis of linear steady-state optical dimensional resonances in the system atom-probe–atoms of the sample. It is shown that such a microscope has high sensitivity and a spatial resolution of less than 1 nm and does not set limits on the choice of samples. The distribution of the optical fields in the wave and near zones in the near-field microscope at frequencies close to the optical dimensional resonances arising as a result of dipole-dipole interactions of atoms at small distances has been investigated. The optical scheme of the monatomic near-field microscope is presented.