Atom lithography with subwavelength resolution via Rabi oscillations

We propose two atom lithography techniques with subwavelength resolution based on position-dependent Rabi oscillations. Our method either uses neutral or ionized atoms to write subwavelength patterns. We illustrate our proposal by numerical simulations of an experimental setup using rubidium Rydberg atoms. We show that, for a microwave wavelength of 1.4 cm, a spacing of a few hundred nanometers is possible.

Figure 1

(a) Proposed experimental setup for subwavelength atom lithography using position-dependent Rabi oscillations of Rydberg atoms (unit for the dimension is cm). P1 is photoresist used for neutral-atom lithography while P2 is the photoresist used for ionized-atom lithography. (b) Energy diagram of the Rb-85 atom.

Figure 2

Simulation of neutral-atom lithography with subwavelength resolution due to a position-dependent Rabi frequency represented by the spatial distribution of the $61D_{3/2}$ ($|b\rangle$) state for different Rabi frequencies ${\Omega }_0$. (a) ${\Omega }_0=2\pi \times 500$ kHz; (b) ${\Omega }_0=2\pi \times 1.0$ MHz; (c) ${\Omega }_0=2\pi \times 5$ MHz; (d) $\Omega \left(x\right)=2\pi \times 10$ MHz. The transverse velocity uncertainty is 0.1 m/s for (a) and (b), while is 0.01 m/s for (c) and (d). The longitudinal uncertainty is fixed to be 1.48 m/s.

Figure 3

Simulation of ionized-atom lithography with subwavelength resolution due to a position-dependent Rabi frequency represented by the spatial distribution of the $63P_{3/2}$ ($|a\rangle$) state for different Rabi frequencies ${\Omega }_0$. (a) ${\Omega }_0=2\pi \times 500$ kHz; (b) ${\Omega }_0=2\pi \times 1.0$ MHz; (c) ${\Omega }_0=2\pi \times 5$ MHz; (d) $\Omega \left(x\right)=2\pi \times 10$ MHz. The transverse velocity uncertainty is 0.1 m/s for (a) and (b), while it is 0.01 m/s for (c) and (d). The longitudinal uncertainty is fixed to be 1.48 cm/s.