Direct laser writing: biomimetic photonics and superresolution nanolithography (Presentation Video)

Biomimetic photonics is inspired by nature's ability to self-assemble complex nanostructured materials with superior properties to that of conventional materials. Biomimetic engineering of novel nanophotonic devices has led to optical nano-fountains, artificial compound eyes and optical gas sensors. Direct laser writing (DLW) is a powerful tool toward the development of ultimate three-dimensional (3D) biomimetic photonic devices. Here we demonstrate the fabrication (DWL) of a novel class of 3D photonic microstructures inspired by a recent finding in butterfly wing-scales and show that these nano-engineered 3D gyroid structures have the ability to redirect circularly polarized light as a chiral beamsplitter. Because of the increasing demand for realising nanogeometries, the diffraction-limited resolution associated with DLW, should be overcomed to access to the nanoscale. We will report on our recent progress on optical beam nanolithography by using the superresolution photoinduction-inhibited nanolithography (SPIN) technique. The smallest feature size of 9 nm for free-standing lines has been demonstrated