Molecular Machine Shop

Very cool nanotechnology article. Hat tip to BoingBoing As published in the University of Michigan News Service: bq. Think of a microscopic milling machine, capable of cutting just about any material with better-than-laser precision, in 3-D---and at the nanometer scale. bq. In a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, University of Michigan researchers explain how and why using a femtosecond pulsed laser enables extraordinarily precise nanomachining. The capabilities of the ultra-fast or ultra-short pulsed laser have significant implications for basic scientific research, and for practical applications in the nanotechnology industry. Very cool - the contender was Electron Beam Lithography but it needed special environment (high vacuum) as well as subsequent chemical processing to work. This works in STP and the results are immediate.