Watching atoms vibrate in real time
March 21, 2007 | Source: KurzweilAI
A new nanoscale apparatus–a tiny gold beam whose 40 million vibrations per second are measured by hopping electrons–offers the potential for a 500-fold increase in the speed of scanning tunneling microscopes, perhaps paving the way for scientists to watch atoms vibrate in high definition in real time.
The new device measures the space between a metal beam and an electrically conducting point just a single atom wide, based on the speed of electrons “tunneling” across the gap.
The device was designed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado at Boulder.
This slow-motion simulation of the JILA nanoscale motion detector shows the wiggling of a floppy metal beam, just 100 nanometers thick, as it is struck by an electric current at the dot. Red indicates the greatest change in position from the rest state.