Thin films might not come up in conversation every day, but they are all around us. Take the metallic plastic films of chip bags, for example, or the anti-reflective coatings on eyeglasses. Even the coatings on pills that make them easier to swallow are thin films. Depositing extremely thin layers of materials in a consistent and uniform way is also crucial to the production of semiconductors, which are the foundation of modern electronics. Not all materials can be easily deposited in such thin layers, such as materials with very high melting points. Now, Caltech researchers led by Austin Minnich , professor of mechanical engineering and applied physics, and deputy chair of the Division of Engineering and Applied Science, have demonstrated a laser-based method for generating thin films of materials, such as niobium. The work could directly impact superconducting electronics used in quantum computers. The team recently described the work in a paper in the journal Applied Physics Letters .…