Better imaging for better nanofabrication?

from the seeing-what-you're-doing dept.
A news article in Scientific American, Scientists Create Smallest Ever Laser-Like Light Beam, describes a table-top apparatus that focuses 25-femtosecond pulses of visible light to create (using a process called high-harmonic generation) highly coherent femtosecond-scale pulses of extreme ultraviolet light, suitable for creating holograms of micron-scale objects. The light beams are much stronger and the apparatus much less cumbersome than previous instruments that produced light of short enough wavelength to image small objects, raising hope that better imaging technology will make possible better fabrication technology. Applications could include making masks for extreme UV lithography. The University of Colorado researchers published their work in the July 19, 2002, issue of Science, pp. 376-378, "Generation of Spatially Coherent Light at Extreme Ultraviolet Wavelengths" by Randy A. Bartels et al. The scientists expect that further improvements in their instrument will make possible imaging with 30-nm spatial resolution and 10-fs temporal resolution, perhaps eventually allowing stroboscopic holography of nanomachine operation.