NEAR-FIELD OPTICS AND LIGHT CONFINEMENT

By exploring the surface of an illuminated object at a very short distance by means of a subwavelength detector, it is possible to reconstruct images whose resolution is beyond the diffraction limit. This opportunity due to the properties of near fields can be explained in terms of non radiating field detection. Such a detection is the basis of near field microscopy. In this communication emphasis will be put on some fundamental aspects of the new concept of non radiative optics such as the relation between Rayleigh criterion and Heisenberg principle and the notion of light confinement. Some proposals of non radiative transfers will be evoked.