Nano-Optical Image-Making: Morphologies, Devices, Speculations

Abstract

This article provides a technical overview of nano-optical image-making produced in collaboration between the author, engineering scientists at the Ciber Lab in Vancouver and the artists Christine Davis and Scott Lyall. It situates the work in relation to other optical technologies (such as holographs), to the primary application of nano-optical images as authentication devices and to other artistic practices concerning nanoscale interactions of light and matter. The paper articulates the convergence of visual technologies and designed materials by explaining how the principles of structural color can be used for the production of images. Building a discussion on the shift from device to medium that is anchored around questions of remediation and reproducibility, it concludes with a speculation on informatic matters, or the convergence of mediating functions at the surface of things.