Download or read book Sub-Wavelength Probing and Modification of Complex Photonic Structures written by Silvia Vignolini and published by Firenze University Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The aim of this thesis consists in the study and modification of complex photonic nano-structures. Nowadays, propagation of light in such materials is a rich and fascinating area of research, both for its fundamental implications and for its practical technological impact. To deeply investigate light propagation inside these structures a high spatial resolution technique is required, especially because intriguing effects often occur on length scales comparable with the diffraction-limit or involve coupling phenomena on this length scale. For this reason in this thesis a Scanning Near-Field Optical Microscope represents one the most straightforward tool both to study and locally modify complex photonic nano-structures from perfect periodic to completely random ones.