Simple near-field optical recording using bent cantilever probes

This paper describes our high-density near-field optical recording using bent cantilever fiber probes installed in an atomic force microscope. We conducted a near-field reading of nano-scale hole patterns with a 100 nm spatial resolution and a 25 μm/s scan speed; this implies a capability of a data reading density of 60 Gb/in² with a 0.25 kbps data transfer rate. In addition, we investigated re-writable near-field recording on photochromic diarylethene films. We successfully recorded erasable memory bits having a minimum width of 600 nm in a writing time as short as 30 ms. We found that using a cantilever probe simplifies the setup and operation of the near-field optical recording system and may offer multifunctional recording capabilities.