A new microscope captures images at unprecendented speeds to produce footage of atoms moving around.
The latest movies from Los Angeles are silent, and filmed in grainy black and white - but they are receiving rave reviews from around the world. No, these films aren't recently rediscovered archives of the antics of Harold Lloyd - they are the clearest ever footage of atoms in motion.
For years, transmission electron microscopes (TEMs) have been able to resolve individual atoms, and even objects just a fraction of a nanometre across.
This is achieved by shooting a finely focused beam of electrons through a specimen, and seeing how it is altered by the object.
But although TEMs can provide an exquisitely detailed 3D picture of a specimen, the resolution in the fourth dimension – time – is less impressive.
The devices are limited by having an electron beam produced by heating a positive electrode – a method that unleashes a large burst of electrons emitted over several milliseconds, resulting in blurred movement.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16100-electron-strobe-turns-atoms-into-movie-stars.html






