InfraRed (IR) and Terahertz (THz) spectroscopies are well-established and robust tools for the chemical and structural characterization of materials and the explanation of their low-energy fundamental excitations. The versatility of these techniques allowed for their successful application into many fields of science, from Material Science and Chemistry to Biology and Medicine. In addition, the exploitation of the brightness advantage of IR and THz Synchrotron Radiation (SR) has revolutionized the IR spectroscopy field since the nineties, and spectromicroscopy with micrometric lateral resolution is a routine nowadays at SR facilities. However, being this limit ultimately imposed by diffraction, it is undefeatable in the far-field regime even with brilliant SR IR/THz sources.

Recent technical and scientific improvements permitted to break the far-field diffraction barrier and to improve the spatial resolution to the nanometer scale. The combination of near-field microscopes with unconventional IR and THz sources offers unprecedented opportunities for material characterization, widening the perspectives in a multitude of fields of sciences by confining vibro-electronic information within few tens of nanometers. In addition, electronic, plasmonic, magnetic, and structural dynamic phenomena occurring at the nanometer scale in heterostructured and phase separated materials can now be addressed by coupling powerful and ultrafast optical sources with near-field probes.

The aim of SAFE is to present the most recent technological advancements and innovative applications achieved with state-of-the-art near-field microscopes. Potentialities of this technique in field of science ranging from biochemistry to material science, and encompassing time resolved spectroscopy, will be presented, focusing on the exciting opportunities offered by SR and FEL sources.