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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/101709
Sub-wavelength laser nanopatterning using droplet lenses
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When a drop of liquid falls onto a screen, e.g. a cell phone, the pixels lying underneath appear magnified. This lensing effect is a combination of the curvature and refractive index of the liquid droplet. Here, the spontaneous formation of such lenses is exploited to overcome the diffraction limit of a conventional laser direct-writing system. In particular, micro-droplets are first laser-printed at user-defined locations on a surface and they are later used as lenses to focus the same laser beam. Under conditions described herein, nanopatterns can be obtained with a reduction in spot size primarily limited by the refractive index of the liquid. This all-optics approach is demonstrated by writing arbitrary patterns with a feature size around 280 nm, about one fourth of the processing wavelength.
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DUOCASTELLA, Martí, et al. Sub-wavelength laser nanopatterning using droplet lenses. Scientific Reports. 2015. Vol. 5, num. 16199. ISSN 2045-2322. [consulted: 13 of June of 2026]. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/101709