Developing new devices – down to the five nanometre scale – requires new approaches for manufacturing and processing. The video shows examples of very high speed photography showing plasma growth and decay over tens of nanoseconds. The shockwaves of the plasma create an audible ‘crack’ as they develop at supersonic speed.

The equipment used to study these tiny phenomena represents the production machinery of tomorrow, with invisible laser beams working on material held on an ultra-stable platform. This next generation equipment is very different from what we use today, and will enable the production of completely new types of product.