Pure optical nano-writing on light- switchable spiropyrans/merocyanine thin film

Abstract

We report optical writing at the nanometer scale of spin coated PMMA-spiropyran films. By using a near-field optical microscope, pure optical nano-writing with a resolution of 160 nm and writing speed of 0.4 µm/s was achieved. Simultaneous topographic and optical writing was also obtained by simply coupling to the near-field few more mW of laser power. Due to the fast optical response of the spiropyran molecule, nano-lithography on PMMA-spyropyran thin films appears to be very attractive for future photonics applications.

Light Emission Properties of Thermally Evaporated CH3NH3PbBr3 Perovskite from Nano- to Macro-Scale: Role of Free and Localized Excitons

“…In the present paper, the optical emission properties of thermally evaporated thin films of CH 3 NH 3 PbBr 3 perovskite are analyzed exploiting the scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) technique, allowing us to correlate the spontaneous emission to the morphological properties of the perovskite layer at a nanoscale. Due to its very high spatial resolution [28][29][30][31], PL-SNOM (photoluminescence-SNOM) imaging allows optically resolving nanoscale structures, at the same time collecting the optical and topography maps for a direct correlation between the near-field PL signal and the sample morphology. A detailed line-shape analysis of the local PL emission allows us to locally quantify the contributions of the FC, EXs, and TSs to the spontaneous emission and to investigate their spatial distribution on the single crystallite grains of the film.…”

Formation and Characterization of Hole Nanopattern on Photoresist Layer by Scanning Near-Field Optical Microscope

“…Among all the SPM techniques used for lithography, the most popular technique is SNOM, which was first introduced by Synge [25]. It is preferred mostly because it can be applied to existing resist techniques, and it also withstands the requirements of recently introduced novel materials [17,26]. Moreover, scanning near-field optical lithography (SNOL) also satisfies the increasing demand of inexpensive lab tools to prepare and manipulate nanostructures of dimensions smaller than 100 nm.…”

“…Near-field light, which is generated at the tip of the probe, is used for the exposure of photoresist during scanning. SNOL has been successfully used for the patterning of different organic materials like positive photoresist [27,28]; negative photoresist [29]; polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) resist [17,26]; conjugated polymers [16,30] and azopolymer films [31,32]; and inorganic materials like metals [33,34], H-passivated Si [35], etc.…”

Micro-Capillary Coatings Based on Spiropyran Polymeric Brushes for Metal Ion Binding, Detection, and Release in Continuous Flow

“…The photochromic properties of spirobenzopyrans were first discovered by Fischer and Hirshberg in 1952 [ 1 ]. Since then, spiropyrans have been studied for a wide range of applications including optical recording [ 2 , 3 ], photochromic lenses [ 4 ], dye-sensitised solar cells [ 5 ], light harvesting artificial membranes [ 6 , 7 ], sensors [ 8 , 9 , 10 ], and actuators [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ], among others [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. Upon irradiation with UV light, spiropyrans isomerise to the more polar, open merocyanine form.…”