Scientists Take First Picture of a Single Atom
While the purpose of the picture was to show how many atoms it would take to produce a shadow, the team was also able to hold the atom long enough in one place to take the picture and capture its shadow using a specific frequency of light as well as a super high-resolution microscope.
Dave Kielpinski, who led the research project at Griffith University's Centre for Quantum Dynamics in Brisbane, Australia, said that they trapped a ytterbium atom in a chamber and held it with electrical forces. Then they exposed it to light and aimed its shadow onto a detector. Key to the picture was the light frequency.
"If we change the frequency of the light we shine on the atom by just one part in a billion, the image can no longer be seen," Kielpinski said. "Because we are able to predict how dark a single atom should be, as in how much light it should absorb in forming a shadow, we can measure if the microscope is achieving the maximum contrast allowed by physics."
As a result of the research, scientists say it is now possible to predict "how much light is needed to observe processes within cells, under optimum microscopy conditions, without crossing the threshold and destroying them." Microbiologists in particular may benefit from the findings as they will be able to take a much closer look at tiny structures, such as DNA strands, without exposing them to light that could harm them.
Holy nerdgasm!
http://www.nature.com/nphys/journal/v6/n12/abs/nphys1778.html
It was quite cool looking.
We've been able to resolve single atoms on a surface of atoms, that is probably what you were thinking about. This research is effectively imaging the shadow of a single free atom, that’s the difference here. Whether this counts as taking a picture or is the first time it's been done I'm not sure.
Holy nerdgasm!
The difference here is that they can take pictures without damaging the subjects, and at least for DNA this is crucial.
I say that this time they've done an awesome job, not just science for the sake of it.
I'll have to read the paper, but an interesting question is what atomic features can be seen in the shadow. Keep in mind that this method won't resolve the nucleus, but probes features of the outer, much larger electronic bits.
and it has a SMILEY FACE on it
So, like I said in my original post, the title is misleading...
The part in the circular end of the picture is the actual picture... the other graphics are to show the directionality of the "light" used to cause the shadow that they took a picture of.