Credit: NIST
Top: Photo of a sample inside the scanning probe module showing the eight electrical contacts to a plate containing the sample to be studied. In the center the probe tip and its reflection in the sample can be seen.
Bottom: Atomic force image of an aluminum sample showing the arrangement of atoms measured at 0.01 Kelvin (-459.65 degree Fahrenheit). The red curve shows the aluminum film is superconducting by having an electrical current with zero voltage.
It images single atoms. It maps atomic-scale hills and valleys on metal and insulating surfaces. And it records the flow of current across atom-thin materials subject to giant magnetic fields. Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a novel instrument that can make three kinds of atom-scale measurements simultaneously. Together, these measurements can uncover new knowledge about a wide range of special materials that are crucial for developing the next generation of quantum computers, communications and a host of other applications. From smartphones to multicookers, devices that perform several functions are often more convenient and potentially less expensive than the single-purpose tools they replace, and their multiple functions often work better in concert than separately. The new three-in-one instrument is a kind of Swiss Army knife for atom-scale measurements. NIST researcher Joseph Stroscio and his colleagues, including Johannes Schwenk and Sungmin Kim, present a detailed recipe for building the device in the Review of Scientific Instruments.
“We describe a blueprint for other people to copy,” Stroscio said. “They can modify the instruments they have; they don’t have to buy new equipment.”
By simultaneously conducting measurements on scales ranging from nanometers to millimeters, the instrument can help researchers zero in on the atomic origins of several unusual properties in ..
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