Nanolithography using a laser focused neutral atom beam

Drawing on techniques developed for laser cooling and trapping of neutral atoms, we demonstrate a novel lithographic tool where near-resonant laser light is used to directly control the position of neutral atoms during deposition. The power of this technique is demonstrated by focusing sodium atoms into narrow lines as they traverse a one-dimensional standing wave. We have studied the dependence of the linewidth and contrast on the light field parameters, such as detuning, intensity, and interaction length. The dependencies follow the predictions from a simple model and, under optimal conditions, we obtain high contrast lines with a resolution of 45 nm over an area of 0.2×6 mm2. Numerical simulations indicate that further improvement below 10 nm is likely in the near future.