Scanning near-field optical microscopy signal processing and resolution

To increase the signal-to-noise ratio and to remove the spatially slow varying signals, a lock-in amplifier is often used in scanning probe microscopy. The signal reconstructed from the lock-in data contains the contributions of the evanescent and homogeneous waves that are mixed in the near-field zone (i.e., at a very short distance). The resolution is determined and a method is given to suppress the useless background information. Experimental images of nanoparticles are processed.