Making the Invisible Visible – Holography at the Nanoscale

The Institute for Microelectronics Stuttgart (IMS CHIPS) conducts application-oriented research in the field of microelectronics, with a particular focus on silicon photonics, integrated circuits and systems, nanostructuring, and MEMS.At the IMS CHIPS booth, you’ll discover how computer-generated holograms (CGH) make structures visible that are otherwise hidden to the naked eye. The nanostructures we fabricate at our institute are smaller than a millionth of a meter – as tiny as the wavelength of light itself. This is precisely what gives them their unique potential: they interact with laser beams in a controlled way, slowing the light down at specific points. This leads to diffraction and interference, transforming a simple point of light into a complex holographic pattern and science becomes a visual experience.