An Alternative Tapping Scanning Near-Field Optical Microscope Setup Enabling the Study of Biological Systems in Liquid Environment

A new aperture scanning near-field optical microscope operating in the intermittent contact mode using a non-bent optical fiber is introduced. The microscope was built modifying a classical scanning near-field optical microscope (SNOM) unit introducing a patented probe-holder (MTP) which contains a piezo-motor and a bimorph-transductor. The main advantages of the present set-up in terms of stability, versatility, optical resolution, and quality of the collected signals are described. The instrument works properly while exerting a minimum perturbation on the sample thus overcoming the major drawbacks of different SNOM-based imaging modes and allowing to study very delicate samples including living cells in physiological environment.