Engineers figured out how to 'print' light-bending devices using bubbles of air instead of solid stuff.
March 24, 2026
Original Paper
Mie-lithography: self-guiding nonlinear laser printing for deep ultraviolet to near-infrared nano dispersion devices
arXiv · 2603.22034
The Takeaway
Optical devices are typically limited by the physical properties of the glass or plastic they are made from, but this new technique uses lasers to create precisely shaped air voids that act as resonators. By using air as the primary component, they can print high-resolution sensors that work across an unprecedented range of light, from deep ultraviolet to near-infrared.
From the abstract
Nanoscale control of optical dispersion is essential for applications ranging from miniaturized spectrometers to color printing, all of which demand broadband spectral tunability. However, the Kramers-Kronig relations impose a fundamental trade-off between dispersion and loss, strictly limiting the design ability of single-material devices across the deep ultraviolet (DUV) to near-infrared (NIR) regimes. Consequently, the fabrication of miniaturized dispersion devices heavily relies on costly na