Recent advances in apertureless scanning near-field optical microscopy (ASNOM) operating in the scattering-type scanning mode (sSNOM) are reviewed. Principles of ASNOM operation, technical solutions, distortions, and interference types characteristic of sSNOM-based instruments and theoretical models underlying the sSNOM technique are discussed. Methods for detecting the probing field effect on a sample under a tip (for example, thermal expansion) have been created; numerous studies have been conducted in the THz and microwave ranges. Material-contrast surface imaging is being successfully developed and nanoscale surface areas are being explored using spectroscopic methods. Progress in visualizing standing and running plasmon- and phonon-polariton waves over the surface of solid and 2D objects, including van-der-Waals materials and graphene, are presented. Hybridization of polariton states due to the interaction of carriers in a thin 2D object with those in a substrate has been discovered. Spatial resolution of ASNOM devices (1—20 nm) during the last 5—8 years has virtually remained the same.

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Keywords: near-field optical microscopy, nanostructures, spectroscopy, ASNOM, sSNOM PACS: 07.60.−j, 07.79.Fc, 61.46.−w, 68.37.Ps, 68.65.Pq, 85.30.De, 87.64.kp (all) DOI: 10.3367/UFNe.2024.02.039652 URL: https://ufn.ru/en/articles/2024/6/d/ Citation: Kazantsev D V, Kazantseva E A "Scattering-type apertureless scanning near-field optical microscopy" Phys. Usp. 67 (6) (2024) Received: 26th, May 2023, revised: 4th, October 2023, accepted: 27th, February 2024 Оригинал: Казанцев Д В, Казанцева Е А «Безапертурная ближнепольная микроскопия упругого рассеяния света» УФН 194 630–673 (2024); DOI: 10.3367/UFNr.2024.02.039652