Plasmonics, near-field microscopy and nanoscale control at ICFO
James T. Hugall and Nicola Palombo Blascetta from Niek van Hulst's group at ICFO describe how they achieve nanometre control over the distance between a plasmonic nanoparticle and a surface using a quartz crystal tuning fork. The plasmonic nanoparticle can then be used to image surfaces using the near field, giving resolutions 10x that achieved with diffraction limited microscopes.