
Sydney: Scientists have been able to click the shadow of a single atom for the very first time - an unprecedented feat crowning efforts lasting more than five years.
"We have reached the extreme limit of microscopy; you cannot see anything smaller than an atom using visible light," said Dave Kielpinski, professor at the Griffith University's Centre for Quantum Dynamics in Brisbane, Australia.
"We wanted to investigate how few atoms are required to cast a shadow and we proved it takes just one," Kielpinski said, the journal Nature Communications reports.
At the heart of this Griffith University achievement is a super high-resolution microscope, which makes the shadow dark enough to see. No other facility in the world has the capability for such extreme optical imaging, according to a Griffith's statement....
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08:20 AM, Jul 05, 2012