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Up close and personal to atoms

Nature volume 401, pages 227–230 (1999)Cite this article

The latest microscopes provide a new level of sophistication not only in imaging but also for interacting with matter at the atomic scale.

Microscopes have been pivotal in opening new frontiers in science. The optical microscope revolutionized biology by allowing scientists to image the living cell, and the advent of electron microscopy has shaped much of our understanding of the structure of cells and inorganic materials. The invention and development of scanning probe microscopy has taken the ability to image matter to the atomic scale and opened fresh perspectives on everything from semiconductors to biomolecules. But researchers are not just passive observers; they are devising methods to modify and measure the microscopic landscape and so explore its physical, chemical and biological features.

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Figure 1: The dimension beyond the images.
Figure 2: In carbon nanotubes, STM images both the atomic corrugation (topography, top) and the quantized electronic standing waves (spectroscopy, bottom).
Figure 3: Biological forces.
Figure 4: Thousands of tiny tools.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Material Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 61801, Illinois, USA

    Ali Yazdani

  2. Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, and the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, 02138, Massachusetts, USA

    Charles M. Lieber

Authors
  1. Ali Yazdani
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  2. Charles M. Lieber
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Correspondence to Ali Yazdani or Charles M. Lieber.

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Yazdani, A., Lieber, C. Up close and personal to atoms. Nature 401, 227–230 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/45709

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