Isotropic shrinkage of patterned vacancies enables three-dimensional nanoprecise metastructures for visible light applications
Abstract Three-dimensional metastructures with nanoscale feature sizes exhibit unique properties compared with structures with larger feature sizes, but are difficult to fabricate. Here we introduce implosion carving (ImpCarv), a method for photopatterning vacancies of complex geometry throughout materials, followed by isotropic shrinkage (>10-fold). ImpCarv works by photoactivating sensitizers to generate reactive oxygen species that cleave a swollen hydrogel at defined points, followed by controlled shrinkage via dehydration. ImpCarv creates three-dimensional metastructures where the refractive index of each point throughout a material can be specified with nanoscale precision via material presence or absence. By leveraging refractive index programmability for precise phase control, we demonstrate an all-optical machine learning device with nanoscale neuron sizes operating at visible wavelengths. ImpCarv may thus support diverse applications in nanophotonics and nanotechnology.
Authors
- Takahiro Nambara
- Daniel Oran (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3035-7548)
- Alex Matlock (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4337-2715)
- Peter T. C. So (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4698-6488)
- Yannick Salamin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1797-2968)
- Hasindu Kariyawasam (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3074-7239)
- Yuichiro Kunai
- Quansan Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8029-1327)
- Ramith Hettiarachchi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7070-8213)
- Corban Swain
- Gaojie Yang
- Brett Pryor
- Marin Soljačić (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7184-5831)
- Hiroyuki Kusaka
- Dushan Wadduwage
- Edward S. Boyden (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0419-3351)
Institutions
- University of Central Florida (US)
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research (US)
- University of Washington (US)
- Myanmar Institute of Theology (MM)
- Fujikura (Japan) (JP)
- Center for Neuro-Oncology (US)
- Reliant Technologies (United States) (US)
- IIT@MIT (US)
- Cambridge Electronics (United States) (US)
- Allen Institute (US)
- Human Media (US)
- Advanced Imaging Research (United States) (US)
- Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research At MIT (US)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
- Old Dominion University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Photonics
- Published
- 2026-05-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-026-01896-1
- Primary Topic
- Photonic Crystals and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- Open Philanthropy Project
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- National Institutes of Health
- Army Research Office
- Army Research Laboratory