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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: GR/R16327/01
Title: Scanning Nanoprobe Optical Spectroscopy
Principal Investigator: Richards, Professor D
Other Investigators:
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Department: Physics
Organisation: Kings College London
Scheme: Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts: 01 March 2001 Ends: 31 May 2004 Value (£): 268,815
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Instrumentation Eng. & Dev. Materials Characterisation
Surfaces & Interfaces
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
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Summary on Grant Application Form
The proposed research is directed towards the development of 'apertureless' scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) techniques with nanometre spatial resolution (-5- 50 nm), beyond that provided by the apertured SNOM technique developed in recent years. The development of these techniques will be facilitated through detailed consideration of probe design, particularly through the use of focussed ion beam processing, and through theoretical modelling. In particular, the proposed research will be directed towards Raman microscopy, exploiting the SERS-enhancement in the vicinity of a silver or gold tip (through localised surface plasmon resonances), with application to the study of nanostructured materials; in particular, conjugated polymer blends and microstructures and carbon nanotubes. This technique will enable the isolation and differentiation of single molecules through their Raman 'fingerprint', as well as providing important information about lattice and molecular dynamics on nanometre length-scales. A fluorescence nano-microscopy technique will also be developed and applied to the study of the photophysics at phase interfaces in conjugated polymer blends. For this technique the quenching of fluorescence from molecules in the vicinity of a metal tip is exploited; for small distances between the tip and molecule the fluorescence is quenched due to a Forster-type energy transfer.
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