The smallest spot in optical lithography and microscopy is generally limited by diffraction. Quantum lithography, which utilizes interference between groups of N entangled photons, was recently proposed to beat the diffraction limit by a factor N. Here we propose a simple method to obtain N photons interference with classical pulses that excite a narrow multiphoton transition, thus shifting the “quantum weight” from the electromagnetic field to the lithographic material. We show how a practical complete lithographic scheme can be developed and demonstrate the underlying principles experimentally by two-photon interference in atomic Rubidium, to obtain focal spots that beat the diffraction limit by a factor of 2.

© 2004 Optical Society of America

1. T. A. Brunner, "Why optical lithography will live forever," J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 21, 2632-2637 (2003). [CrossRef]
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5. M. D'Angelo, M. V. Chekhova and Y. Shih, "Two-photon diffraction and quantum lithography," Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 013602 (2001). [CrossRef]
6. K. Edamatsu, R. Shimizu and T. Itoh, "Measurement of the photonic de-Broglie wavelength of entangled photon pairs generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion," Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 213601 (2002). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
7. B. Dayan, A. Pe'er, A. A. Friesem, and Y. Silberberg, "Nonlinear interactions with an ultrahigh flux of broadband entangled photons," quant-ph/ p. 0411023 (2004), <a href="http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/quant-ph/0411023">http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/quant-ph/0411023</a>
8. V. Blanchet, C. Nicole, M. A. Bouchene and B. Girard, "Temporal coherent control in two-photon transition: from optical interferences to quantum interferences," Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 2716-2719 (2002). [CrossRef]
9. D. Meshulach and Y. Silberberg, "Coherent quantum control of two-photon transitions by a femtosecond laser pulse," Nature 396, 239 (1998). [CrossRef]
10. S.A. Hosseini and D. Goswami, "Coherent control of multiphoton transitions with femtosecond pulse shaping," Phys. Rev. A 64, 033410 (2001). [CrossRef]
11. N. Dudovich, T. Polack, A. Pe'er and Y. Silberberg, "Coherent control with real optical fields: a simple route to strong field control," Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. (2004).
12. E. Yablonovitch and R. B. Vrijen, "Optical projection lithography at half the Rayleigh resolution limit by two-photon exposure," Opt. Eng. 38, 334-338 (1999). [CrossRef]
13. D. V. Korobkin and E. Yablonovitch, "Twofold spatial resolution enhancement by two-photon exposure of photographic film," Opt. Eng. 41, 1729-1732 (2002). [CrossRef]
14. N. Dudovich, B. Dayan, S. M. Gallagher Faeder, and Y. Silberberg, "Transform-limited pulses are not optimal for resonant multiphoton transitions," Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 47-50 (2001). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
15. B. Dayan, A. Pe'er, A. A. Friesem, and Y. Silberberg, "Two-photon absorption and coherent control with broadband down-converted light," Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 023005 (2004). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B

• T. A. Brunner, "Why optical lithography will live forever," J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 21, 2632-2637 (2003). [CrossRef]

Nature

• D. Meshulach and Y. Silberberg, "Coherent quantum control of two-photon transitions by a femtosecond laser pulse," Nature 396, 239 (1998). [CrossRef]
• S. Kawata, H. Sun, T. Tanaka and K. Takada, "Finer features for functional microdevices," Nature 412, 697-698 (2001). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Opt. Eng.

• E. Yablonovitch and R. B. Vrijen, "Optical projection lithography at half the Rayleigh resolution limit by two-photon exposure," Opt. Eng. 38, 334-338 (1999). [CrossRef]
• D. V. Korobkin and E. Yablonovitch, "Twofold spatial resolution enhancement by two-photon exposure of photographic film," Opt. Eng. 41, 1729-1732 (2002). [CrossRef]

Phys. Rev. A

• S.A. Hosseini and D. Goswami, "Coherent control of multiphoton transitions with femtosecond pulse shaping," Phys. Rev. A 64, 033410 (2001). [CrossRef]

Phys. Rev. Lett.

• N. Dudovich, T. Polack, A. Pe'er and Y. Silberberg, "Coherent control with real optical fields: a simple route to strong field control," Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. (2004).
• A. N. Boto, P. Kok, D. S. Abrams, S. L. Braunstein, C. P. Williams and J. P. Dowling., "Quantum interferometric optical lithography: exploiting entanglement to beat the diffraction limit," Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 2733-2736 (2000). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• M. D'Angelo, M. V. Chekhova and Y. Shih, "Two-photon diffraction and quantum lithography," Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 013602 (2001). [CrossRef]
• K. Edamatsu, R. Shimizu and T. Itoh, "Measurement of the photonic de-Broglie wavelength of entangled photon pairs generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion," Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 213601 (2002). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• N. Dudovich, B. Dayan, S. M. Gallagher Faeder, and Y. Silberberg, "Transform-limited pulses are not optimal for resonant multiphoton transitions," Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 47-50 (2001). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• B. Dayan, A. Pe'er, A. A. Friesem, and Y. Silberberg, "Two-photon absorption and coherent control with broadband down-converted light," Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 023005 (2004). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• V. Blanchet, C. Nicole, M. A. Bouchene and B. Girard, "Temporal coherent control in two-photon transition: from optical interferences to quantum interferences," Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 2716-2719 (2002). [CrossRef]

Other

• B. Dayan, A. Pe'er, A. A. Friesem, and Y. Silberberg, "Nonlinear interactions with an ultrahigh flux of broadband entangled photons," quant-ph/ p. 0411023 (2004), <a href="http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/quant-ph/0411023">http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/quant-ph/0411023</a>
• J. W. Goodman, Introduction to Fourier optics, 3rd Ed., (McGraw-Hill, 1996).

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