A collaborative effort between scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati and Columbia University in the United States has led to the development of an innovative method for nanopatterning using a simple tabletop infrared (IR) laser. This advancement was detailed in a press release from IIT Guwahati.
Dr. Rishi Maiti, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at IIT Guwahati and a former post-doctoral scientist in Alexander Gaeta’s quantum and non-linear photonics group, has published the research findings in the journal Science Advances.
The process of nanopatterning, which involves creating patterns on materials at the nanometer scale—a dimension a hundred thousand times smaller than the width of a human hair—has seen significant progress through this new technique. Dubbed "unzipping," this method enables the cleaving of hexagonal boron nitride using an infrared laser, resulting in the formation of atomically sharp lines across the material, each only a few nanometers wide.
Employing laser wavelengths at 7.3 micrometers, the researchers were able to achieve clean lattice breaks, producing controllable nanostructures. The simplicity and effectiveness of this approach represent a major advancement in nanoscience.
Dr. Maiti described the impact of this development, emphasizing that this novel nano-patterning technique, which uses optically induced strain, opens numerous possibilities in the fields of nanoscience and technology. He highlighted that its simplicity and effectiveness signify a significant advancement in the field, with extensive implications across various industries.
The potential applications of this groundbreaking technique are vast, offering promising new directions for various sectors by providing a more accessible and efficient method for creating nanoscale patterns.