This red rock landscape offers a window into the engineering behind precision multilayer Laue lenses (MLL) designed to focus high-intensity x-rays to within a single nanometer. A scanning electron microscope captured this view from the bottom of a trench carved by reactive ion etching, one of the methods of preparing these high-precision optics. Completed MLLs will be installed at our National Synchrotron Light Source II and reveal the structural details of tiny objects with huge impacts, such as nanocatalysts that help drive sustainable energy innovations. Reactive-ion etching (RIE) is an etching technology used in microfabrication. RIE is a type of dry etching which has different characteristics than wet etching. RIE uses chemically reactive plasma to remove material deposited on wafers. The plasma is generated under low pressure (vacuum) by an electromagnetic field. High-energy ions from the plasma attack the wafer surface and react with it.