Pattern control at this level means that nanotemplates could be formed to fine-tune device characteristics of self-assembling nano-structures. Possibly, characteristics could be tailored for devices like photonic lattices--an advanced method for controlling light that is of interest to the telecommunications industry.

Observation of the real-time assembly process, along with control over physical factors that influence that process, offers a means of finding out about the conditions under which atoms self-assemble and how to influence that assembly into more desirable structures.