Park Scientific Instruments (PSI) proposes to develop a Scanning Near Field Optical Microscope (SNOM) that will be capable of writing and addressing bits stored in bacteriorhodopsin films at terabit/cm2 densities. The SNOM will achieve 10 nm spatial resolution by using a Plasmon Resonator(PR) Ag nano particle which serves to both enhance the optical scattering cross section, and to localize the near fields. Means have been established to select Ag nanoparticles which have dualplasmon resonance frequencies centered at 410 and 570 nm. Precisenonhysteretic scanning of the Ag particle relative to the bacteriorhodopsin film will be achieved by combining the PR with an attractive mode atomic force microscope (AFM) instrumentation as developed by PSI and further optimized for this PR-SNOM application.Commercial Applications:A significant market is anticipated for the combination of atomic force microscopy with plasmon resonance SNOM capability in the fields of material analysis, semiconductor research and biology, in addition to the field of data storage research.
