Au nanotip as luminescent near-field probe.

We introduce a new optical near-field mapping method, namely utilizing the plasmon-mediated luminescence from the apex of a sharp gold nanotip. The tip acts as a quasi-point light source which does not suffer from bleaching and gives a spatial resolution of ≤25 nm. We demonstrate our method by imaging the near field of azimuthally and radially polarized plasmonic modes of nonluminescent aluminum oligomers.