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Lead Atoms Imaged During Phase Change

Posted by timothy on from the yeah-but-what-about-leptons-huh dept.

fsh writes "José Gómez-Rodríguez and company from the Madrid Autonomous University have successfully imaged the phase change of a lead crystal from 45K to 135K. They built their very own variable temperature scanning-tunneling microscope, capable of continuously scanning an area 20nm square throughout a 100K temperature jump. This was a surface phase change, but their technique will hopefully pave the way for imaging other phase changes, like solid to liquid. Check out the movie."

24 comments

  1. Just wondering what applications this has? by Admiral+Ackbar+8 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I did some searching, but couldn't find any meaningful applications for this. I am not saying science for the sake of science is not meaningful, but I was just curious what we could use this for. If anyone can enlighten me I would be much obliged.

    1. Re:Just wondering what applications this has? by Gewis · · Score: 5, Informative

      You did, eh, RTFA? You're the first poster and the site hasn't been /.ed yet. So you have no excuse From TFA:

      "One case where defects matter is the behavior of surface phase transitions. A layer of tin atoms on a germanium surface forms a flat lattice, but at temperatures below about 150 Kelvin--for reasons that aren't entirely clear--the tin layer spontaneously corrugates to form a new structure, or phase, with one atom out of every three moving away from the substrate."

      If you don't know why/how of these processes, you can't predict or control them. Thus engineering with any sort of multi-material boundaries and surfaces at low temperatures loses some precision and purity due to not-fully-understood effects.

      As for questions of when we'd ever use nanoscale materials like this, think semiconductors. All semiconductors rely on doping one substance (like silicon) with another like germanium or aluminum (or pretty much any Group III or V elements). Yes, this is particular research is more for theoretical support, but various things tie in all over the place. In any research, the more general knowledge you have, the more particular applications you'll be able to come up with.

    2. Re:Just wondering what applications this has? by Admiral+Ackbar+8 · · Score: 1

      Yes I did RTFA, and as you correctly pointed out, it only says what they did. I wanted to know what you could do with it? In other words: what products will I see that take advantage of this accomplishment. You pointed some out, so thanks.

      Also thanks for insulting me, that was clearly quite necessary in explaining the applications of this research.

    3. Re:Just wondering what applications this has? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Applications? More materials science research, maybe.

  2. Server phase change by Gogo+Dodo · · Score: 4, Funny
    That poor server is going to have a phase change real soon. Nothing like linking a 8MB movie off /. to cripple a server.

    Try using MirrorDot.

    1. Re:Server phase change by Retric · · Score: 1

      It's still doing fine as far as I can tell. And don't forget it's a Science link so there should not be all that much trafic still I wonder how long it's going to last.

    2. Re:Server phase change by Democritus+the+Minor · · Score: 1

      Just you wait... the story's only been up for half an hour...

  3. friggin awesome! by ianmakesbeer · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Well, I can think of many reasons why this is quite amazing:

    -The field of view is a mere 400nm^2
    -We are watching a phase transition happen at the atomic level
    -Its the first time this has ever been done
    -(corallary: the stable viewpoint of the "camera" during this process is a first as well)
    -Could have applications in thermodynamics, nanotechnology, bio-engineering, etc. etc.

    Myself, I find this fascinating.

    --
    i can't think of a witty signature, so i won't try.
    1. Re:friggin awesome! by kereira · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Because science is fun! :D who wouldn't want to witness this? :3 One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind...

      --
      I don't not believe there isn't a God.
    2. Re:friggin awesome! by Admiral+Ackbar+8 · · Score: 1

      Oh I do too as a holder of a degree in Physics this is the stuff I find fascinating. I didn't mean to imply it was not good work, but alas, I am an engineer now and must find a practical use for everything.

    3. Re:friggin awesome! by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 1

      If you can't find a practical use that's your problem. Move over and let someone else more imaginative come up with something.

      --
      Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
    4. Re:friggin awesome! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh I do too as a holder of a degree in Physics this is the stuff I find fascinating.

      I see you didn't minor in English.

    5. Re:friggin awesome! by Admiral+Ackbar+8 · · Score: 1

      If you can't find a practical use that's your problem. Move over and let someone else more imaginative come up with something.

      Then enlighten me...

    6. Re:friggin awesome! by Admiral+Ackbar+8 · · Score: 1

      What happened to my period (and comma). Thought I had one, should be written like this:

      Oh I do too. As a holder of a degree in Physics, this is the stuff I find fascinating.

      I agree that is an akward sentence either way.

    7. Re:friggin awesome! by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 1

      Don't ask me. I'm not imaginative enough either. But as long there are smart people out there who know how to use useless looking stuff (and there are plenty) I say we leave them to it.

      --
      Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
    8. Re:friggin awesome! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Once, we can actually see an atom and what takes place during a reaction, there are plenty of things we can do with this valuable information. There are things that can be altered, it's a vast source of knowledge that akbar or whomever, cannot even begin to comprehend. Also, it is indeed a giant step for the photography industry. KUDOS to ianmakesbeer

  4. Crystal phase change? by Democritus+the+Minor · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm really intrigued by the temperature-induced crystal structure change. Never really thought about that possibility.

    1. Re:Crystal phase change? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean like the freezing of water in your freezer? ;)

      That intrigues me too, especially in the summer when the old AC can't keep up...

  5. or coral (link) by Jerf · · Score: 1

    Coral cache.

  6. Nanotechnology by Fungus+King · · Score: 3, Informative

    The ability to be able to closely watch individual atoms perform their trickery and as a result prove older theories/bring up new questions allows chemists/physicists to make new advances in the field of nanotechnology, as an example. Funny things happen on this small a scale, and there are forces at work which don't manifest themselves in the same way on the macroscopic scale - as such these systems that can now be (indirectly) observed are harder to predict mathematically. Knowing how they interact during phases changes can help to understand how they can be controlled.

  7. Re:I call shananigans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Flip back and forth between the beginning and end of the clip. The easy way to say it is that the dots are clearly much smaller by the end. It is much harder to notice in the video, but direct comparison between start and finish is very clear.