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Lead Atoms Imaged During Phase Change
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."
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.