Two-dimensional refractive index profiling by using differential near-field scanning optical microscopy

The authors present two-dimensional reconstruction of the refractive index profile of an optical waveguide by using differential near-field optical microscopy. Using an inverse algorithm, the refractive index distribution is obtained directly from the measured optical near-field and its derivatives without any assumption of the index profile. The proposed method also takes advantage of subwavelength resolution and low noises in the waveguide region. Two-dimensional index profile reconstruction of a single mode fiber is measured for the demonstration. The measured optical field distribution and refractive index profile agree quite well with the calculated mode and the known index profile.