German Researchers Devise Cheaper Procedure for Nanoscale Filming

Scientists at Kiel University in northern Germany have developed a new method of capturing ultra-fast nano-processes, such as an electron orbiting the core of hydrogen atom, on film.

The method combines an electron microscope with nanostructured metallic thin films generating very short light pulses. A first experiment was able to document the coherent interactions of light and electrons in a semiconductor.

Previously, producing such images required the use of high-power lasers few research groups could afford.

“Our concept does not require expensive and complicated lasers and can be easily replicated,” CAU Professor of Experimental Physics Nahid Talebi said in a statement. “Electron microscopes have a significantly better spatial resolution than optical microscopes and make investigations in the nanometer range possible in the first place.”

Talebi has published the results of her research in the journal Nature Physics .