Digital resonant laser printing: Bridging nanophotonic science and consumer products

Nanophotonics research relies heavily on state-of-the-art and costly nano and microfabrication tech-nologies. While such technologies are fairly mature, their implementation in large-scale manufacturingof photonic devices is not straightforward. This is a major roadblock for integrating nanophotonic func-tionalities, such as flat optics or high definition, ink-free color printing, into real life applications. Inparticular, optical metasurfaces – nanoscale textured surfaces with engineered optical properties – holdgreat potential for a myriad of such applications. Digital laser printing has recently been introduced asa low-cost lithography solution, which allows the fabrication of high-resolution features on optical sub-strates. By exploiting resonant opto-thermal modification of individual nanoscale elements, laser printingcan achieve nanometer-sized resolution. In addition, the concept of digital resonant laser printing at thenanoscale supports mass-customization and may therefore convert nanophotonic science into everydayconsumer products.