Power and photon energy dependence on near-field etching properties

Our paper was accepted in Appl. Phys. A

T. Yatsui, H. Saito, K. Nishioka, B. Leuschel, O. Soppera, and K. Nobusada, “Effects of a power and photon energy of incident light on near-field etching properties,” Appl. Phys. A,  Volume 123, Issue 12, December 2017, 751

[Significance of this article]

This study investigates the effects of power and photon energy of incident light on the properties of near-field etching. Using time-dependent density functional theory, we first established that an optical near-field with photon energy lower than the absorption edge of the molecules can induce molecular vibrations. The study of power dependence of the near-field etching properties using nanodiamonds showed that the etching volume varies linearly with the incident power. Furthermore, the study of photon energy dependence using TiO2 nanostriped structures indicated that the etching rate decreases with decrease in the photon energy. We believe that our study makes a significant contribution to the literature because optical near-fields exhibit unique properties, and research in the field of near-field optics is required for applications in future nanoscale devices.