Apertureless near-field Raman spectroscopy

We report on the tip-enhanced Raman spectra of C60 obtained on a custom-built apertureless scanning near-field optical microscope. A commercial atomic force microscope tip coated with 100 nm thickness of gold was used to enhance locally the Raman signal and permit topographic and spectral information to be acquired simultaneously. We present preliminary data which demonstrate the tip enhancement effect using C60 as a test sample.