Light emission induced by tunneling electrons from surface nanostructures observed by novel conductive and transparent probes

Abstract

We have developed an ultrahigh-vacuum low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope (STM) equipped with a near-field optical detection system using novel conductive and optically transparent probes. Tunneling-electron induced photons generated in a nanometer-scale area just under the STM probe can be collected directly into the core of the optical fiber probe within the optical near-field region. Firstly, optical fiber probes coated with indium-tin-oxide thin film are applied to quantitative analysis of p-type GaAs(110) surface, where a decrease of light emission in photon mapping clearly extracts the existence of Zn accepter atoms located at the sub-surface layers. Secondly, in order to enhance the efficiency for inelastic tunneling excitation of a tip-induced plasmon mode, a STM probe coated with an Ag/ITO dual-layer film has been developed and applied to an Ag(111) surface, where photon mapping with a step resolution has been achieved by near-field detection.