MIT succeeded in creating three-dimensional 'cut paper' in units of one billionth of a meter

A joint team of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Chinese scientists reproduces an elaborate "cut paper" by cutting into focused nanometer (1 billionth of a meter) unit material using a focused ion beam I succeeded in doing.

Kirigami-inspired technique manipulates light at the nanoscale | MIT News
http://news.mit.edu/2018/kirigami-inspired-technique-manipulates-light-nanoscale-0706

Nano-kirigami with giant optical chirality | Science Advances
http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/7/eaat4436

Professor Nicholas X. Hwan of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT collaborated with researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the South China Institute of Technology to use a focused ion beam for microchip fabrication technology to achieve a thinness of several tens of nanometers By precisely putting a notch into the metal piece of the metal, we succeeded in creating a complex three dimensional shape. In previous studies, in order to reproduce the cut paper structure on the nanoscale, it seems that it was necessary to fold process by complicated procedure after cutting the material, but with the technology developed by this research team , It is said that it is made possible to make a three-dimensional structure with one shot simply by making a notch.

In fact, you can see the three-dimensional structure formed instantaneously from the incision by focused ion beam from the following movie.

Nano-kirigami with giant optical chirality - YouTube


There is a secret in the focused ion beam that is used to cut incisions into the metal piece that the notched metal piece naturally develops. Part of the ions stays in the crystal lattice of the metal by making incisions with a focused ion beam with a low dose. Then, the shape of the crystal lattice is extruded, a strong stress that bends the metal piece is born, and the metal piece develops cleanly. In contrast to the conventional method that cut intuition according to a specific purpose intentionally, this time we need a complicated deployment method because we are considering the cutting pattern by calculating the stress beforehand I will not.

Furthermore, the research team led by Professor Hwang made nanocrinting paper with an optical function that it can filter the clockwise and counterclockwise circularly polarized light .

For example, glucose has two kinds of enantiomers , D-glucose and L-glucose. In order to distinguish between the two, it is necessary to perform optical rotation measurement in order to investigate the concentration in each solution. This nanocrinting paper is much smaller than those of conventional devices, so it can be expected to miniaturize sensors and devices in various fields such as smaller and more efficient optical rotation detectors .

Professor Hwang says, "For example, circular polarization technology is used to pass multiple laser beams through fiber optic cables without interfering with them, and if we use the technology of nanocrinting paper, We can expect to be applied to communication technology because it can be made in meter size ", commented.