We show that light can be used as a lens to focus a collimated neutral atomic beam to submicron dimensions during deposition onto a substrate. We have used an optical standing wave at 589 nm as an array of cylindrical lenses to focus a perpendicular sodium beam into a grating on a substrate, with a periodicity of 294.3±0.3 nm. This result is the first direct evidence of submicron focusing of atoms by light, and represents a fundamentally new scheme for submicron lithography.

• Received 27 February 1992

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.69.1636