The Brownianmotion of 0:5 mmand 1 mmpolystyrene spheres used as probes for a photonic force microscope is recorded at various distances from a surface with nanometer spatial and 25 ms temporal resolution. Analyzing timewindows of 0:4 s of the Brownian motion, the diffusion constant and local viscosity...

Fluorescence resonance energy transfer ~FRET! has been observed between donor dye molecules deposited onto the sample surface and acceptor dye molecules deposited onto the scanning near-field optical microscope ~SNOM! or atomic force microscope tip. FRET was observed only when the tip acquired a contact...

The heterodyne phase-controlled oscillator method to monitor the resonance frequency and quality factor of the tip oscillations was used to control the scanning near-field optical microscope ~SNOM! and to study the nature of the shear-force interaction routinely used in SNOM. Both optical and nonoptical...

The fluorescence resonance energy-transfer (FRET) process is investigated between donor dye molecules deposited on the sample surface and acceptor dye molecules deposited on the tips of scanning nearfield and atomic force microscopes. The FRET process was observed only when the tip acquired contact with the...

A time-gated scanning near-field optical microscope ~SNOM! has been developed. The optical signal was recorded at the precise moment during the fiber tip oscillation period when it made contact with the sample surface. The use of such an approach substantially improves the signal-to-noise ratio for common...

The possibility to observe single quadrupoles by the recently proposed fluorescence resonance energy transfer scanning near-field optical microscopy (FRET SNOM)  analyzed. When an excited dipole donor center of the SNOM tip is scanned close to a quadrupole molecule of the sample (at a distance of 1-2...

We present fluorescence resonance energy transfer ~FRET! images of donor dye molecule clusters recorded using a local fluorescence probe for scanning near-field optical microscopy ~SNOM!: standard apertured SNOM fiber tip coated with the 30’100-nm-thick polymer layer stained with the acceptor dye...

The absolute values of the force exerted by the fiber probe of a scanning near-field optical microscope onto the surface were measured using an atomic force microscope in ambient conditions. We demonstrate that a usually neglected static attraction force is dominant at small dither amplitudes and is...

Local fluorescence probes based on CdSe semiconductor nanocrystals were prepared and tested by recording scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) images of calibration samples and fluorescence resonance energy transfer SNOM (FRET SNOM) images of acceptor dye molecules inhomogeneously deposited onto...

Optical properties of microporous polymer membranes coated with metal have been studied using scanning nearfield optical microscopy. The electromagnetic field distribution close to pores of various sizes ranging from 35 to 750 nm has been investigated in the different illumination configurations. Individual...