Towards creation of iron nanodots using metastable atom lithography

Iron structures with dimensions of the order of the minimum domain size (similar to 50 nm at room temperature) may provide us with a new high-density data storage method. Limitations have been observed in existing depositional atom lithography schemes for producing these structures. We present a proof-in-principle experiment using an alternative scheme based upon direct exposure metastable neon-atom lithography. Iron structures with dimensions of the order of 7.5 mu m are produced by this method. Extension of this work to the application of standing-wave atom lithography and laser cooling flux enhancement techniques is discussed as a method for reducing dimensions to a size equating to a dot array density of around 0.1 Gbit mm(-2).