Use of a thin step etched optical fiber probe in a scanning near-field optical/atomic-force microscope (SNOM/AFM) produced frictional imaging. The probe was fabricated by the etching of an optical fiber to decrease its diameter and sharpen the tip end with a HF solution and by irradiating aCO2laser beam to bend the tip. The spring constant of the thin probe is 100 times smaller than that of a conventional optical fiber probe, which allows the probe to be used as a contact AFM mode and in frictional imaging. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.