%A Jia WANG, Qingyan WANG, Mingqian ZHANG %T Development and prospect of near-field optical measurements and characterizations %0 Journal Article %D 2012 %J Front. Optoelectron. %J Frontiers of Optoelectronics %@ 2095-2759 %R 10.1007/s12200-012-0257-y %P 171-181 %V 5 %N 2 %U {https://journal.hep.com.cn/foe/EN/10.1007/s12200-012-0257-y %8 2012-06-05 %X

Scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) is an ideal experimental measuring system in nano-optical measurements and characterizations. Besides microscopy with resolution beyond the diffraction limit, spectroscope with nanometer resolution and other instruments with novel performances have been indispensable for researches in nano-optics and nanophotonics. This paper reviews the developing history of near-field optical (NFO) measuring method and foresees its prospects in future. The development of NFO measurements has gone through four stages, including optical imaging with super resolution, near-field spectroscopy, measurements of nano-optical parameters, and detections of near-field interactions. For every stage, research objectives, technological properties and application fields are discussed.