Strong tip-sample coupling in thermal radiation scanning tunneling microscopy

We analyze how a probing particle modifies the infrared electromagnetic near field of a sample. The particle, described by electric and magnetic polarizabilities, represents the tip of an apertureless scanning optical near-field microscope (SNOM). We show that the interaction with the sample can be accounted for by ascribing to the particle dressed polarizabilities that combine the effects of image dipoles with retardation. When calculated from these polarizabilities, the SNOM signal depends only on the fields without the perturbing tip. If the studied surface is not illuminated by an external source but heated instead, the signal is closely related to the projected electromagnetic local density of states (EM-LDOS). Our calculations provide the link between the measured far-field spectra and the sample's optical properties. We also analyze the case where the probing particle is hotter than the sample and evaluate the impact of the dressed polarizabilities on near-field radiative heat transfer. We show that such a heated probe above a surface performs a surface spectroscopy, in the sense that the spectrum of the heat current is closely related to the local electromagnetic density of states. The calculations agree well with available experimental data. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.