Diffraction Limit Has Been Beaten

deglr6328 writes "In what is being heralded variously as a "remarkable accomplishment" and a "breakthrough", physicists have reportedly beaten the diffraction limit at optical frequencies. First hypothesized to be possible 30 years ago by Russian physicist Victor Veselago, meta-material "superlenses" with negative refractive indices were first demonstrated around 2001 at microwave frequencies. The use of a thin silver film as an optical superlens in this case, has allowed the team to resolve features less than 40 nanometers wide; 10 times better than any conventional optical microscope. The consequences of the discovery are immediately apparent and include opportunities for extremely fine biomedical imaging in-vivo and greater increases in transistor density for microchips by superlens augmentation of photolithography masks."

Comments

And then...

[binaryspiral]

Diffraction Limit Has Been Beaten

And then had its wallet stolen.

Re:Satellite telescopes?

[deglr6328]

I hear that the other reason is because most people don't usually walk around holding their credit cards face up above their heads. :o)

Immediately Apparent

[mazarin5]

The consequences of the discovery are immediately apparent and include opportunities for extremely fine biomedical imaging in-vivo and greater increases in transistor density for microchips by superlens augmentation of photolithography masks.

Those certainly were the first things I thought of!