X-Ray Microscope Enables Nanovision

[n2doc]

Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior WriterDate: 19 August 2011 Time: 11:20 AM ET



Magnetic domains appear like the repeating swirls of fingerprint ridges. As the spaces between the domains get smaller, computer engineers can store more data.
CREDIT: UC San Diego

Forget X-ray glasses. A new X-ray microscope can see details a small as a billionth of a meter — without even using a lens.

Instead, the new microscope uses a powerful computer program to convert patterns from X-rays bouncing off materials into images of objects as small as a one nanometer across, on the scale of a few atoms.

Unlike Superman's X-ray vision, which allows him to look through walls to see the bad guys beyond, the new technology could be used to look at different elements inside a material, or to image viruses, cells and tissue in great detail, said study researcher Oleg Shpyrko, a physicist at the University of California, San Diego. But one of the most important applications is in nano-sized engineering, Shpyrko said.

"We can make things at nanoscale, but we can't see them very well," Shpyrko told LiveScience. "So our paper pushes the characterization forward," he added, referring to their research article published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Aug. 8.

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http://www.livescience.com/15661-superman-ray-microscope-enables-nanovision.html

[gtar100]

1. A new door is opening

Very cool.