Author: Yin Tinggui
In 2024, Chengdu Miji Technology Co., Ltd. successfully delivered a visible-to-near-infrared near-field optical microscopy system to a university in Guangzhou. The system integrates three wavelength bands: 532 nm, 633 nm, and 1064 nm. Its main body consists of three laser sources, peripheral optics, and a dedicated near-field AFM host.
Fig. 1 Visible-to-near-infrared near-field optical microscope
System overview:
The system can be applied to frontier research such as polaritons in two-dimensional materials, localized electrical properties of semiconductor materials, and life sciences.
Materials science: The system can excite polaritons in two-dimensional materials, most typically exciton polaritons in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). Related work has been published in top international journals such as Nature and Nature Photonics in recent years, and many physical phenomena remain to be explored, making this field one of the current international research hotspots.
Semiconductors: SNOM is highly sensitive to the dielectric properties of samples, enabling quantitative, high-resolution, and sensitive detection of doping, strain, composition, and other information in semiconductor devices and nanomaterials. This allows evaluation, analysis, and quality control of the composition, structure, and electrical conduction properties of semiconductor materials and components at the nanoscale.
Biology: The vibrational and rotational energy levels of biological macromolecules lie in the terahertz-to-infrared band, which can be used to quantitatively analyze chemical structure, composition, and other information. By combining this system with the sensitivity of biochemical substances in the infrared and visible bands, chemical and structural characterization of organic matter, biological samples, and related soft-matter materials can be performed at the nanoscale, further advancing research into the microscopic mechanisms of life sciences.
System specifications and imaging results
| Light sources | 532 nm; 633 nm; 1064 nm |
| Near-field SNR | 3rd-order signal: 22 dB @ 532 nm; 26 dB @ 633 nm; 22 dB @ 1064 nm |
| Spatial resolution | 40 nm |
| AFM near-field single scan range | Maximum lateral scan range: >90 μm; maximum vertical scan range: 7.5 μm |
| Optical CCD camera | 10× objective (long working distance) • color camera, 2560 × 1920 resolution • digital zoom • 508×–4010× magnification range |
| High-performance system workstation | 32 GB RAM, 2 TB storage, 3.0 GHz CPU |
1. 532 nm near-field signal and Si/SiO2 standard sample imaging results
2. 633 nm near-field signal and Si/SiO2 standard sample imaging results
3. 1064 nm near-field signal and Si/SiO2 standard sample imaging results
Chengdu Miji Technology Co., Ltd. has long been committed to the domestic production of high-end terahertz equipment and near-field optical equipment. The company will continue to follow international frontier developments in related fields and publish professional interpretations of relevant work — stay tuned. The company currently offers terahertz far-field imaging, spectroscopic time-domain systems, terahertz near-field imaging and spectroscopy systems, and terahertz photoconductive-probe near-field systems (micron-level resolution). Researchers interested in sample measurements are welcome to contact us and send samples for testing.