Photonic nanojet steering for parallel super-resolution laser writing

The continuously increasing demands for high-precision, scalable nanofabrication capabilities motivate the advent of technologies complementing advanced lithography.Here, we introduce a parallel photonic nanojet (PNJ)based strategy using microsphere assemblies and angularly scanned, actively tuned femtosecond laser irradiation.By using 5 μm polymer microspheres and 1030 nm pulses, we generate sub-500 nm PNJs, enabling spatially programmable, ultra-high-density subwavelength patterning on silicon via controlled incidence angles.A key innovation lies in the compensatory laser parameter adjustments, a necessary prerequisite to maintain uniform feature sizes during automated scanning, thus achieving arbitrary nanoscale patterns with a 5 μm pitch.Scalability analysis reveals that mJ-class lasers could parallelize this process across large-area microsphere arrays, producing millions of nanoscale features simultaneously.This approach holds promise for high-throughput, flexible new manufacturing solutions.