Using X-rays, researchers have captured the first-ever image of a single atom.

Using X-rays, researchers have captured the first-ever image of a single atom.

 

Led by Professor Saw Wai Hla, a team of researchers from Ohio University, Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Illinois at Chicago and other institutions made significant progress in the first detection of X-ray signatures single atom. Using advanced techniques, synchrotron X-ray scanning tunneling microscope (SX-STM), they identify and examine individual atoms. Funded by the US Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Sciences, the breakthrough has the potential to revolutionize the fields of environmental, medical and quantum research.

Since their invention in 1895, X-rays have been widely employed in a variety of applications, including medical research, safety inspections, and even the analysis of minerals on Mars. Finding out the makeup of the materials in a sample is a crucial application of scientific X-rays. The quantity of samples needed for X-ray detection has greatly decreased over time thanks to advancements in synchrotron X-ray sources and equipment. Due to the extremely small signal that each individual atom produces, identifying atoms using X-rays is still difficult. Such faint signals cannot be detected by conventional X-ray detectors due to their lack of sensitivity.

According to Professor Hlan, it has long been a dream for scientists to take an atomic X-ray, and now the research team has made the dream come true. The use of synchrotron X-ray scanning tunneling microscopes makes it possible to obtain the X-ray signature of an atom, marking a major milestone in the field of X-ray detection. This discovery opens up new opportunities for scientific research and can have major implications in various fields.