| abstract |
Disclosed is a signal light measurement system for a near-field optical microscope which is capable of investigating the dependency of signal light emitted from a specimen by means of near-field light with respect to the distance between a probe and the specimen. This signal light measurement system is equipped with a probe (14) which scans the surface of a specimen, a light source (16), and a spectroscope (18) which detects signal light emitted from the specimen. The probe (14) comprising a cantilever and a silver chip on the tip thereof. The cantilever is vibrated by an oscillator (20), causing the tip of the silver chip to intermittently make contact with the surface of the specimen. Light emitted from the light source (16) passes through a light modulator (24), a beam splitter (26), an objective lens (22), and a transparent substrate (12), and strikes the specimen surface, generating near-field light at the specimen surface. Signal light is radiated from the specimen by means of this near-field light. |