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Nanofabrication

Driven by feedback, unlimited by diffraction

By exploiting nonlinear feedback arising from the interaction of ultrafast laser pulses, self-organized nanolines that appear to defy the limits of diffraction are shown to cut, dice, and structure optical materials, fabricating true zero-order sapphire waveplates and crystalline micro-prisms.

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Fig. 1: Nonlinear laser–matter interaction mechanism.

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Correspondence to Fatih Ömer Ilday.

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Ilday, F.Ö. Driven by feedback, unlimited by diffraction. Nat. Photon. 18, 771–772 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-024-01485-0

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