Laser-focused nanolines link the micro- and nano-worlds. (General Developments).A collaboration of scientists from NIST (National Institute of Standards & Technology, Washington, DC, www.nist.gov) The standards-defining agency of the U.S. government, formerly the National Bureau of Standards. It is one of three agencies that fall under the Technology Administration (www.technology. and the University of Nijmegen (body, education) University of Nijmegen - Katholieke University of Nijmegen (KUN), Nijmegen, the Netherlands. KUN's Computing Science Institute. is known for the Clean, Comma, Communicating Functional Processes, and GLASS projects. http://kun.nl/. (Netherlands) has shown that two sets of nearly-identical nanolines created by laser-focused atomic deposition can interfere with each other to form a metrologically significant moire Pronounced "mor-ray" and spelled "moiré." In computer graphics, a visible distortion. It results from a variety of conditions; for example, when scanning halftones at a resolution not consistent with the eventual printed resolution or when superimposing curved patterns on one pattern. A paper describing this work was published in the June 10, 2002 issue of Applied Physics Letters Applied Physics Letters is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Institute of Physics devoted to the publication of new experimental and theoretical papers about applications of physics to science, engineering, and modern technology. . In this work, nanolines are deposited on a clear substrate (indium tin oxide Indium tin oxide (ITO, or tin-doped indium oxide) is a mixture of indium(III) oxide (In2O3) and tin(IV) oxide (SnO2), typically 90% In2O3, 10% SnO2 by weight. ) by focusing chromium atoms in a near-resonant laser standing wave, a technique first demonstrated at NIST in 1993. Each set of lines individually has a pitch of nonometer scale, which arises from the wavelength of the laser used to form them. However, by doing this twice, using two different but closely-spaced atomic transitions in chromium, a spatial beating pattern is observed with a period of 44.46 [mu]m. Because the nanolines are deposited in standing waves tuned to atomic resonances, their pitches can be characterized to extremely high accuracy. This accuracy is carried over into the pitch of the moire pattern, providing a metrological link between nanoscopic and microscopic length scales. CONTACT: Jabez McClelland, (301) 975-3721; jabez.mcclelland@nist.gov. |
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