WITEC alpha300 S Scanning Near-field Optical Microscope

Micro-fabricated cantilever SNOM sensors
Aperture size typically 100 nm, other optional
Standard AFM cantilever probes
Beam-deflection distance control for SNOM and AFM
Low noise, highly focused optics for beam deflection laser
No interference with excitation laser
Ultra-low laser noise
Near-field Mode 100 nm, depending on aperture size; Confocal Mode typically 200 nm diffraction-limited

As scanning near-field microscopy requires only minimal sample preparation if any, it is ideally suited to quickly and effortlessly image the optical properties of a sample with resolution below the diffraction limit.
Typical applications are found in nanotechnology research and particularly in the highly relevant fields of Nano-Photonics and Nano-Optics.
In Life Science and materials research, SNOM allows the optical detection of the most miniscule surface structures of transparent as well as opaque samples.
Using fluorescence techniques, even single molecule detection is easily achievable.