12 years of blood, sweat, and science went into success.
It only took US scientists 12 years to create a method and a highly
effective X-ray device to successfully take the first X-ray image of a
single atom.
After twelve years of work, a group of researchers from Ohio University,
Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and
other institutions have finally managed to obtain an X-ray image of a real
iron atom that, unlike earlier atomic-scale snapshots, actually enables the
identification of the individual atom.
"Scanning probe microscopes can be used to routinely examine atoms, but
without X-rays, it is impossible to determine their composition. One atom at
a time, we can now determine precisely the type of an atom while also
measuring its chemical state, according to the project's lead scientist, Saw
Wai Hla, a physicist at Argonne National Laboratory, professor of physics at
Ohio University, and director of the Nanoscale and Quantum Phenomena
Institute at OU.
fresh approach
Synchrotron X-ray scanning tunneling microscopy, often known as SX-STM, is
the method used by the microscope created especially for this new kind of
imaging. That method itself is a mix of scanning probes, which are often
used to capture photos of amorphous atoms, and synchrotron X-ray imaging,
which makes use of a far more dazzling kind of radiation that can be
precisely controlled to capture atomic-level X-ray images.
By placing an instrument's tip just nanometers from a surface and applying
an electric current to agitate the atoms in its target,
scanning tunneling microscopy
may create amazing tiny pictures. Although excellent at producing bumps and
nanoscopic waves, there is no way to identify the atoms being scanned.
Here's where
synchrotron radiation
comes in. It has the capacity to investigate properties like molecular bonds
or individual atoms by penetrating the depths of matter.
In order to picture atoms by "photoabsorption of core level electrons,"
which the researchers said implies they can record the elemental
fingerprints of a specific atom, you need to combine your scanning tunnel
microscope and synchrotron radiation. In this instance, the experiment
included 1 atom of iron.
Tolulope Michael Ajayi, a PhD student at Ohio University and the study's
lead author, said that using X-rays to identify and characterize individual
atoms "could revolutionize research and give rise to new technologies in
areas like quantum information and the detection of trace elements in
environmental and medical research."
An extraordinary achievement
The scientists had to build a supramolecule out of a single iron atom and
many terbium atoms in order to capture the image. Hla's team also searched
for the effects of various settings on single rare-earth atoms like terbium
in addition to photographing iron.
"By comparing the chemical states of an iron atom and a terbium atom inside
respective molecular hosts, we find that the iron atom strongly interacts
with its surroundings while the terbium atom, a rare-earth metal, is rather
isolated and does not change its chemical state," Hla stated.
That implies that the group has virtually found out how to distinguish
between chemical states of elements as well as individual elements at the
atomic level. They've also figured out how to use their technology with a
novel method dubbed "X-ray excited resonance tunneling," which, according to
them, enables the detection of a single molecule's orbital orientation on a
material's surface.
According to Hla, this finding could enable future scientists to use
synchrotron X-rays to experiment with the "quantum and spin (magnetic)
properties of just one atom." The team will continue to investigate new
applications for the technology in fields including studying the collecting
of essential elements and other atomic developments.
