A Multiview 1000 was used to probe the elasticity  of fixed macrophage cells with force spectroscopy.  Force spectroscopy was conducted on various cells with measurements performed around the nucleus.  A 3D image of a sample cell is shown below, with the force curves conducted at designated points on top of the cell.  Sneddon’s model was used to characterize the individual force curves to measure the elastic indentation of the cells; the Young’s modulus can then be calculated  by fitting the Hertz model to the data.  The authors find that the modulus of the macrophage cells increased significantly with adhesion to the ECM, showing that cellular adhesion plays a significant role in cytoskeleton and membrane softness.

Published:  Souza et al., European Biophysics Journal, 2014 DOI 10.1007/s00249-014-0988-3

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Plasmonics waveguides have unique, attractive features such as 1) allowing co-propagation of optical and electrical signals and 2) tight confinement of the electromagnet mode.  A recently published work describes a new configuration of plasmonic waveguides that tries to overcome the device’s well-known obstacle of a limited propagation length, where the loss of light signal occurs due to light absorption in the metal.  Authors Uriel Levy and colleagues use a Nanonics Multiview 4000 in this paper [Optics Express, 2014] to characterize the properties of the waveguide and to measure the propagation loss of the waveguide modes.  They find comparable propagation loss in their devices, and they suggest significant improvements to the propagation losses with changes to the fabrication process of the device.

Published:  Optics Express, Sep 3 2014

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Surface Plasmon polariton waves are well-known to suffer from high loss where, with a result of this loss causing localized heating of the SPP structure.  However, directly measuring optically-induced heating with nanoscale resolution has always been very challenging.  Now, using Scanning Thermal Microscopy and NSOM, researchers Boris Desiatov, Ilya Goykhman, and Uriel Levy have characterized both the electromagnetic field and thermal distribution in silicon plasmonic nanotips.   The authors used a Multiview 4000 equipped with a Nanonics thermocouple tip - to measure thermal signal as a function of tip position - and a metal-coated NSOM tip to measure the electromagnetic intensity distribution.   The use the silicon integrated plasmonic nanoptip device to confine the electromagnetic energy at the silicon tip/metal boundary, resulting in a localized thermal hotspot that they then measure.   They find that coupling 10mW of optical power into the waveguide results in a temperature rise of about 15C at the apex of the nanotip compared to ambient temperature; these experimental findings were confirmed with simulations.

This study is important in helping understanding the localized heating of this structure, a major consequence of ohmic loss in these devices.    

Published:  Nano Letters  2014 14(2) p. 648-652

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Nanocoax ( metal- dielectric- metal) structures are potential devices for nanoscale photonics systems such as polarization- preserving optical waveguides for optical communication. It is very important to know the propagating properties of such structure for different excitation wavelengths.

NSOM is the best tool for study of such plasmonic nanodevices since the nSOM measurement is not diffraction-limited, and it provides both topographic and optical data with high resolution.

A Nanonics MV-4000 system was used for the AFM/NSOM measurements. This system enables scanning with probe as well as with the sample. The tip scanning capability is absolutely necessary for the study of objects requiring any form of constant optical alignment. The feedback in this system is based on the tuning fork, hence there no interference between the beam bounce laser and the light propagating through the sample.

The sample with the nanocoax array was specially prepared. The sample was illuminated from the bottom with different light sources: 473 nm, 532 nm, 660nm 850 nm. The light was transmitted through the nanocoax structures, collected via cantilevered NSOM probe (aperture diameter 100 nm), and detected with an avalanche photodiode.

Experimental results together with numerical calculations showed that the propagated modes have a different nature depending on the excitation wavelength, i.e, plasmonic TE₁₁ and TE₂₁ modes in the near infrared and photonic TE₃₁, TE₄₁ and TM₁₁ modes in the visible. Far field transmission out of the nanocoaxes is dominated by the superposition of Fabry-Perot cavity modes resonating in the structures, consistent with theory. 

In summary, propagation of the plasmonic and photonic modes in nanocoax structures was experimentally observed for the first time in this work.

Fig. 1    NSOM-measured (a - d) and calculated (f - i) images of the propagated modes in the nanocoax structure. The wavelengths were 850 nm (a, f), 660 nm (b, g), 532 nm (c, h) and 473 nm (d, i). In all cases, the polarization is in the vertical direction, the scale bars represent 200 nm and circles represent the inner and outer radii of the coax annuli. (e) Three-dimensional representation of the nanocoax topography (lower, via AFM) and the corresponding near-field intensity (upper) for 532 nm wavelength. 

Published:  Optics Express June 16, 2014 Vol 22, No. 12

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This paper demonstrates the detection of whispering–gallery mode (WGM) distribution in a fused silica micro disk resonator with a highly sensitive Nanonics Imaging cantilevered Pt/Au micro thermocouple probe and a Nanonics Imaging MultiView 4000 Scanning Probe Microscope.

Whispering gallery modes were excited by an evanescent tapered fiber with wavelengths in the 1550nm-1560nm range.  The thermocouple probe enabled detection of thermal distribution simultaneously with the topographic data.  As the tip penetrates the evanescence field, the light absorption leads to heating measured by the thermal tip, giving a thermal image of the light intensity distribution.  The thermal distribution was compared with NSOM results on the sample in transmission, reflection and collection modes.

In Brief: This paper elegantly shows that the thermocouple probe has great potential for detection in the near field in visible and near-IR optical ranges and can be used as a tool to study different photonics devices.  

Published:  March 1, 2014/Vol.29, No.5/Optics Letters

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A “point” SPPs source is generated first by an NSOM probe and then a second NSOM probe detects interference patterns

 SPP Interference with MV4000 Two Probe System

The study of Surface Plasmon Polariton (SPP) interference and propagation is increasingly recognized as a very effective way to concentrate and guide light in nanometric domains. A team in the University of Science and Technology of China  demonstrated a unique approach for recording SPP interference from a "point" source on a plasmonic structure utilizing the Nanonics MultiView 4000^TM MultiProbe Scanning Probe Microscope (SPM) system.

MultiView 4000 Two Probe system setup has been used for NSOM excitation of  SPPs with a point source of a 100nm and for NSOM collection of the interference patterns with a second NSOM probe with 100nm aperture.	NSOM images of the SPPs distribution on the sample with excitation position at b, c, d,  and e along the red line shown in a. d shows the numerical calculation

The researchers used two cantilevered 100nm aperture NSOM probes with the MultiView 4000 in order to test the relation between the visibility of interference patterns and the size of the point source. They observed the SPPs interference phenomenon of a ring structure with different point source sizes by using one probe as a point source for near-field excitation of SPPs and the other for near-field collection of the interference patterns

 The patterns were generated through the interference of the propagated and reflected SPPs to and from the ring walls. The intensity distribution of SPPs was measured in tip scanning mode with the sample and the illumination source kept stationary during the measurement.

Published: Appl. Phys. Lett. 98, 201113 (2011)

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Observing energy transfer and wave guiding in phycocyanin nanowires using a MV4000 Two Probe system

Energy transfer via phycocyanin nanowires has been shown by measuring near-field luminescence with a MV4000 two probe system. One NSOM probe has been used for localized excitation (532 nm light, 150 nm diameter aperture) and a second NSOM tip (150nm diameter aperture) has been used simultaneously to map AFM and Luminescence along the nanowire.
The MV4000 allows for accurate placement of the NSOM illumination probe on top of the nanowire and also allows for simultaneous tip-scanning in close proximity to the illumination tip.

 Published: Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2014. DOI: 10.1039/c4cp00345d  

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Avoiding collisions in a multiprobe setup:  Investigation of mechanical interactions between two tips using a MV4000 Two Probe NSOM microscope 

A method to monitor the distance between two tips of tuning fork-based AFM/NSOM systems is described. The distance monitoring is performed by recording the crosstalk signal which characterizes the interaction strength between the two oscillating tuning forks and tips.

The measurements are based on aerodynamic and shear force interactions between the tips.  Both interactions increase with decreasing distance between the tips. The shear force interaction is a short-range effect and it is observed within a region of several tens of nanometers. This interaction leads to a sharp increase in the crosstalk signal once the scanning tip comes into the immediate vicinity of the stationary one. This effect is a reliable tool to detect the mechanical interactions between two tips and thus prevent them from colliding during scanning. (Klein et al)

Published: Appl. Phys. B. DOI 10.1007/s00340-012-5182-7(2012)

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Multiprobe setup to heat and probe a nanowire's thermal expansion

A MultiProbe setup is used to heat and then thermally probe a nanowire, revealing the thermal distribution within the wire

• MV 4000 Dual Probe Nano-Heater using Thermo-couple probes

• Nanoheater (below, left ) probe was used to locally heat a Nanowire on Nickel pads.

• Thermocouple probe (below, right) was used for AFM/Thermal scanning of the Nanowire and observe local coldspots in the wire

See here for a video showing an example of a multiple nanoheating experiment. 

For Information about Thermal Imaging see: http://www.nanonics.co.il/thermal-spreading-resistance-electrical.html

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