Fluorescent two-photon nanolithography

DARÍO KUNIK; SILVIO J. LUDUEÑA; SANTIAGO. COSTANTINO; OSCAR E. MARTÍNEZ

Lausanne Suiza

Conferencia; 9th International conference on near-field optics, nanophotonics and related techniques; 2006

Here we show that it is possible to fabricate sub-diffraction limit nano-patterns of only 5 nmin height using optical lithography on glass and mica substrates. This technique has recentlyproven useful to engineer fluorescent micro-patterns on standard glass coverslips that arecompatible with cell and neuronal cultures [1]. Pushing the limits of the method, we couldreduce the size of the generated structures beyond the laser focal spot size. In addition, wefound that the power needed to polymerize the resin in bulk is one order of magnitude higherthan to start the polymerization at the interface with the substrate. Islands of 1 nm in heightare detected before the coalescence to a single line is produced. Furthermore, whenfluorescent dye is added to the resin, the power threshold required to induce polymerization isreduced another order of magnitude, indicating that the dye contributes to interaction betweenlight and polymer.