From grayscale towards multi-color laser printing inside non-linear metal-organic framework microcrystals

Abstract

Direct laser writing (DLW) is an industry-oriented method for creating the images both on the surface and in the volume of various media for nanophotonic, medicine, bioengineering, and even IT applications. However, the challenges on the creation of color images with sub-diffraction resolution inside the media, as well as the impossibility of achieving black and grayscale shades simultaneously with full color palette significantly hinder the widespread use of DLW. Staying in the laser writing paradigm, we have proposed a new concept for simultaneous multicolor and grayscale writing inside the media with sub-diffraction resolution through the use of a whole class of non-linear optical (NLO) metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).