Good things come in threes: UT physics researchers are helping create a new type of microscope to add to the two existing primary microscope types. 

Last month, physics professor Mark Raizen and graduate students Jamie Gardner and Erik Anciaux published a paper in the Journal of Chemical Physics on their recent work improving the atom lens, a critical component of the atom microscope. Their results are a step toward creating a new tool to examine objects at the atomic scale, which can give scientists information about the chemical composition of a material. 

The first microscope, the optical microscope, was created using glass lenses in the 17th century. Nearly three centuries later, scientists invented the electron microscope, which uses a beam of electrons to magnify an object. Researchers have improved the capabilities of both types over the years, but now a small group of physicists is developing a third type: the atom microscope. 

Anciaux said the purpose of the atom microscope isn’t to replace optical microscopes and electron microscopes, but rather to fill in gaps of missing information. 

“Other microscopes are very good at what they do, but there are certain types of surfaces that they’re incapable of seeing,” Anciaux said. “Right now, the two microscopes are very good at looking at conductors and semiconductors, but they get mixed results when trying to learn about the shapes or chemical compositions of insulators at the nanoscale.”

The atom microscope works by works by hurling neutral atoms at an object. The atoms excite the surface of the object and cause it to elicit signals containing information. Unlike the other two models, the atom microscope has the capacity to identify both the surface shape and chemical composition of a sample, said Anciaux. 

“Scientists have tried to create an atom lens, but it’s a very difficult project because atoms face different equations of motion than light does,” Anciaux said.  “All beams of light move at the same speed, the speed of light, but atoms move at different speeds.”

In their tests, the physicists shot a beam of neon atoms to see how accurately the lens could magnify and focus on different images, including one of a longhorn.

Raizen and his team are currently working toward improving the adjustability and precision of the prototype lens. The lens operates on a 100 micrometer scale, but they want to decrease that to 10 nanometers. 

Although groups in the past have experimented with the atom microscope, as far as Anciaux is aware, UT is the only university developing lens technology.  

“Not many people are willing to risk taking on a project that might not work,” Anciaux said. “We’re trying to show that it’s viable.  If we are successful in building a better lens, other groups will take notice and build on our work with their ideas. Just like how the optical and electron microscopes were not invented by one person, the atom microscope will be a group effort.”