Terahertz microscopy with submicrometre resolution

We present a terahertz; near-field microscope which may serve as a contactless probe for identifying the dielectric properties of individual quantum systems. Terahertz images of organic and inorganic structures demonstrate the applicability on objects of submicron size. Spatial resolutions down to 150 nm have been achieved. The unexpectedly high image contrast results from a novel near-field imaging process.