The Photonics Research Group of Ghent University in Belgium created a 1 trillionth scale map that measures only 40 micrometers across. That's about half the width of a human hair. It serves a purely decorative purpose on a new type of microchip that the team is developing:
The silicon photonics technology that is being developed with these chips integrates optical circuits onto a small chip: Light can be manipulated on submicrometer scale in tiny strips of silicon called waveguides or photonic wires. Using the unique properties of silicon, combined with state-of-the-art manufacturing technology, these silicon photonic circuits can pack a million times more components on the same footprint as today’s commercial glass-based photonics.
Link via Gizmodo
Hmm, it IS a small world, after all.
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Cue music... "It's a small, small world..."
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Where is Tasmania? Not that I am complaining.
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