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Researchers from rkhtu im. Mendeleev created the image of the periodic table in quartz glass with a size of 3. 6×2. 4 mm. was used For this method of femtosecond laser writing, which is promising for use in technologies of ultra-dense data storage in glass. The work of scientists published in a special issue of the journal Frontiers in Chemistry.

Glass used by man for over five thousand years, and during that time managed to firmly enter into our life. But despite such prevalence, this class of materials is still updated with new members who have opened new properties.

Almost 95% of all glass — silicate. They are made from raw materials, the main component of which is silicon oxide. But the glass found almost the whole periodic table. To give the glass the desired properties (e.g., strength, chemical resistance or color) in it include the oxides of sodium, aluminum, boron, calcium, chromium and so on.

A new study by Russian scientists reflects this richness of the elements in the form of a miniature periodic table engraved in the thick glass. Managed to do it through the use of femtosecond lasers, which emit very short pulses of light. Such pulses last, though very little, but have a high intensity of radiation that allows a point to change the structure of the material. In eye surgeries doctors use femtosecond lasers to carefully cut and stitch tissue. The application of this technology in Windows allows you to create within them a miniature optical elements, waveguides, channels, switches.

The creators of the work have used the femtosecond laser to create inside a quartz glass nanoresearch having the property of birefringence. This means that the beam passing through a region with a periodic structure, is divided into two components, which go through the material in different ways and at different speeds, and then connect the output from it. Because of this inside the glass and you receive the interference color.

The color of the obtained pattern can be controlled by changing the laser radiation intensity and consistently applying layers of nanoresearch each other. The authors have changed these settings from one table cell to another, which made them colourful. But in a normal optical microscope to see them not, and all the cells are painted only in various shades of brown. To see the full range only if the microscope insert crossed polarizers. Scientists have established six basic types of elements (alkali metals, inert gases, etc.) in six different shades of brown and blue.

The table is turned out the 3.6 by 2.4 mm — it can be placed on the tip of the nail. Each cell with a chemical element was RA��example only 200 x 200 micrometers. One of the important advantages of such a “tattoo” on the glass — its thermal stability. Experiments showed that heating up to 900 °C and quenching of the glass does not affect the image recorded in the table. This means that this method can reliably store information for many years, protecting it from negative influences.