MIT engineers have developed a way to generate 3D photonic devices with nanoscale features, by shrinking them after fabrication. In their new study, they created devices in a variety of shapes, including helices and a shape inspired by the wing of a butterfly. Credit: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Using a new technique that can create vacancies at any site across a material and then shrink it to about 1/2,000 of its original volume, MIT researchers have designed nanotechnology devices that could be used for optical computing and other applications involving the manipulation of visible light. The new fabrication technique, known as "implosion carving," allows researchers to imprint features throughout a hydrogel using photopatterning. If patterned with a resolution of about 800 nanometers, these features can then be shrunk to less than 100 nanometers.…