Near-field optics, dealing with the interaction between optical field and matter in the nanometric region, has become an interdisciplinary field spaning physics, chemistry, materials science, electrical engineering and high density data storage. This book reflects the recent status of this rapidly growing field. It discusses the basic theories, instrumentation, novel probes, theoretical simulations, and the application of near-field optics to the fields of condensed matter physics, new materials, information storage, atom photonics, etc. It provides an overview of the research on near-field optics in the 1990s.