Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Tunneling Induced Fluorescence as a Probe of Electromagnetic Interaction at Nanometre Proximity

Published

Author(s)

G Hoffman, Javier Aizpurua, S P. Apell, R Berndt

Abstract

Fluorescence induced by the tunneling current of a scanning tunneling microscope is used to investigate the electromagnetic coupling of a metal tip and a metal sample. Sub-atomic scale modifications of the tunneling junction geometry cause spectral shifts of the fluorescence. Such shifts are observed when the tip is vertically displaced relative to a flat sample surface. Similarly, monatomic sample steps close to the tip position shift the fluorescence. These experimental results are consistent with model calculations of the electromagnetic response of an appropriate tip-sample geometry. We find that for sharp tips the electromagnetic coupling of the tip and the sample is confined to a lateral range of a few nm.
Proceedings Title
Proceedings of NATO-ARW, Organic Nanophotonics
Conference Dates
August 25-29, 2002
Conference Location
Aix en Provence, FR
Conference Title
Organic Nanophotonics

Keywords

collective excitations, electrodynamics, light emission, nanocavities, scanning tunneling microscopy

Citation

Hoffman, G. , Aizpurua, J. , Apell, S. and Berndt, R. (2003), Tunneling Induced Fluorescence as a Probe of Electromagnetic Interaction at Nanometre Proximity, Proceedings of NATO-ARW, Organic Nanophotonics, Aix en Provence, FR (Accessed December 11, 2024)

Issues

If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact reflib@nist.gov.

Created June 1, 2003, Updated February 17, 2017