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Stop complaining! The world's tiniest violin has arrived...

The world's smallest violin is officially here. But it's so tiny that it can only be seen under a microscope. It's smaller than a speck of dust and thinner than a human hair. And while it might not be able to respond to your dramatic complaints with a smooth rendition of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, it is paving the way for scientists to do new and exciting things in the near future.

Physicists at Loughborough University used nanotechnology to make the little violin. “Though creating the world’s smallest violin may seem like fun and games, a lot of what we’ve learned in the process has actually laid the groundwork for the research we’re now undertaking,” said Professor Kelly Morrison, Head of Physics at Loughborough University in Britain.

“I’m really excited about the level of control and possibilities we have with the set-up,” added Morisson. “I’m looking forward to seeing what I can achieve – but also what everyone else can do with the system.”

That research that's now possible includes things like improving the efficiency of computers to finding new ways of harvesting energy.

"The violin measures 35 microns long and 13 microns wide, with a micron being one millionth of a metre," reports the BBC. "A human hair typically ranges from 17 to 180 microns in diameter, for comparison."

To create it, a small chip was coated with two layers of gel-like material called a resist. It was then placed under something called the NanoFrazor, which is a nano-sculpting machine.

"The machine uses thermal scanning probe lithography, a technique where a heated, needle-like tip 'writes' highly precise patterns at the nanoscale," explains the BBC. "This allowed the violin design to be etched on to the chip's surface layer... After it was etched, the underlayer of the resist was dissolved to leave behind a violin-shaped hole."

According to the university, a thin layer of platinum was then deposited into the chip. And a final rinse in acetone removed any remaining material to reveal the finished teeny violin.

The tiny creation involved big work. And it took the research team several months to refine and test different techniques before announcing that they'd finally made the world's smallest "violin." Now that they've laid the groundwork, it takes around three hours to create a violin using the nanolithography system.

The whole point of making the microscopic "instrument" was to test what the university's cutting-edge nanolithography system is capable of. "Our nanolithography system allows us to design experiments that probe materials in different ways – using light, magnetism, or electricity – and observe their responses," Morrison said.

"Once we understand how materials behave, we can start applying that knowledge to develop new technologies, whether it's improving computing efficiency or finding new ways to harvest energy," she added. "But first, we need to understand the fundamental science and this system enables us to do just that."

The team said they created the nanoscale violin as a 'playful reference' to the phrase, “Can you hear the world’s smallest violin playing just for you?”

If you've never heard it, it's something said to mock exaggerated complaints or overly dramatic reactions. And it's often accompanied by a hand gesture mimicking someone playing a tiny violin between their thumb and forefinger.

"The expression is thought to have first appeared on television in the 1970s, popularised by the show M*A*S*H, and has remained part of pop culture thanks to appearances in more recent shows like SpongeBob SquarePants," reads the university's site.