The world’s smallest vinyl record has been created by a nano-sculpting machine
"Since we're working on the nanoscale, this one isn't playable on your average turntable"
![DTU Physics](/sites/default/files/styles/djm_23_961x540_jpg/public/2023-01/juleplade_169.jpeg.jpg?itok=Nmao7j0-)
Researchers at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) have cut what they say is the world's smallest record, a recording of festive favourite 'Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree', which is so miniscule it could fit within one single groove of a regular vinyl record.
The tiny vinyl record, which measures just 40 μm/micrometres or microns in diameter (for scale, the diameter of a human hair is 70 microns, and a red blood cell is eight microns) was created using a new nano-sculpting machine called the NanoFrazor — a 3D lithography system — and packs in the first 25 seconds of the aforementioned song.
"We've taken a snippet of 'Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree' and have cut it just like you would cut a normal record—although, since we're working on the nanoscale, this one isn't playable on your average turntable," said DTU Physics researcher Peter Bøggild. "The Nanofrazor was put to work as a record-cutting lathe—converting an audio signal into a spiralled groove on the surface of the medium. In this case, the medium is a different polymer than vinyl."
"I have done lithography for 30 years, and although we've had this machine for a while, it still feels like science fiction," added Bøggild.
Find out more via DTU here and watch a demo video below.
Last December, it was reported that vinyl sales in 2022 outstripped CDs in the UK for the first time in 35 years. A year on from hitting a 30-year high, UK record sales hit £116.8 million in 2022, next to to CD sales of £98.3 million – almost 16% more. It's the first time record sales have exceeded those of CD sales in the UK since 1988.
In other vinyl news, Teenage Engineering recently announced the launch of the PO-80 Record Factory, a compact, USB-powered record cutter that lets you cut your own 5” vinyl at home and even play them back in lo-fi sound.
Image via DTU Physics