Using holograms, a nanoscale 3D printer can now rapidly fabricate complex items with details smaller than a wavelength of visible light. This research can rapidly manufacture nanotechnological arrays of wires, lenses, rotating magnetic gears, and other structures, suggesting applications in electronics, photonics, microrobotics and more. The new method can manufacture complex, microscopic 3D objects such as letters, numbers, rings, lenses, and gears that can be remotely controlled by applying a magnetic field.
A new two-photon lithography technique can print nanoscale 3D objects at speeds of up to 2 million voxels per second and 4.5 to 54 cubic millimeters per hour. In addition, it achieved a resolution of up to 90 nanometers, the best seen yet in high-throughput two-photon lithography, the scientists noted. Moreover, the team’s new process can simultaneously operate up to 2,000 individually programmable laser foci to fabricate complex structures, the most seen yet in high-throughput two-photon lithography, they added.
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