Construction of a near-field spectrum analysis system using bent tapered fiber probes

We take advantage of a combination of laser heating and pulling and electric arc bending to fabricate bent tapered fiber probes. The bent angles can be varied from 30° to 70° and tip diameters fall within a few tens of nanometers. These bent fiber probes can easily be adapted into any dynamic mode atomic force microscope. By proper manipulation of the bent angles, a spatial resolution of up to 60 nm is achievable. After coating the bent fiber probes with a thin layer of Pt/Pd film by ion sputtering, the transmission efficiency is measured to be around 10^-5, which is applicable for near-field spectrum analysis experiment.