Scalable multichannel micromachining with pseudo-nondiffracting vacuum ultraviolet beam arrays generated by thin-film axicons.

Scalable multichannel microstructuring was demonstrated by multiplexing a focused molecular fluorine laser beam with cylindrical nanolayer microaxicons into an array of converging pseudo-nondiffracting subbeams. The axicons were fabricated by shadow-mask vapor deposition of magnesium fluoride onto substrates of identical material. Long-period surface gratings of variable pitch were generated on poly(methyl methacrylate) by varying the target position within the converging periodic focal lines.