Optical near-field enhancement at a metal tip probed by a single fluorophore

The optical near-field in the vicinity of a metal tip is mapped using a single-molecule optical probe. We observe an enhancement of the fluorescence signal by a factor of 5.7+/-0.3, clearly larger than the fourfold enhancement that can arise from constructive interference if the tip acts as a simple mirror. Considering the tip apex as a nanoparticle of nonregular shape, we suggest that, in the case of gold tips, the enhancement is due to resonant plasmon excitation. Consistently, no enhancement has been observed using Pt/Ir tips. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.