The optical near-field of an aperture tip

We use fluorescent nanospheres as scalar detectors for the electric-field intensity in order to probe the near-field of an optical tip used in aperture-type near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM). Surprisingly, the recorded fluorescence images show two intensity lobes if the sphere diameter is smaller than the aperture diameter, as expected only in the case of vector detectors like single molecules. We present a simple but realistic, analytical model for the electric field created by light emitted from a NSOM tip which is in quantitative agreement with the experimental data.