Nanonics Near-field Scanning Optical Microscope (NSOM)

The NSOM is an SPM that uses the sharp point of an optical fibre as its tip. Using a small aperture at the point of the fibre (diameter range of 250 nm down to 50 nm) as the emitter and/or collector of light, and the fact that it scans only a few nanometers distance from the sample surface, means that optical information about the specimen in the near field (sub-wavelength) can be acquired.  This results in far greater resolution than conventional optical microscopy. It has a maximum lateral range of 100 x 100 micrometers squared and has around 5 micrometers in the Z (vertical) direction. Maximum sample size is about 10 mm in breadth.