Electron Microscopes

MIT scientists have coaxed atoms into an exotic “edge state” for the first time, allowing them to flow completely friction-free. The breakthrough could lead to better superconductor materials.

The subatomic world is hard to image not just because it’s incredibly tiny, but super fast too. Now University of Arizona physicists have developed the world’s fastest electron microscope to capture events lasting just one quintillionth of a second.

Using off-the-shelf industrial parts, a team of researchers from the public and private sectors has created a prototype of a small particle accelerator that could have a big impact bringing the technology forward for commercial applications.

Scientists have confirmed the existence of a strange new form of magnetism. Hiding right under our noses, the team says that “altermagnetism” can be found in everyday materials and could have major technological uses.

Scientists at ETH Zurich have discovered a new type of magnetism. Experiments show that an artificially produced material becomes magnetic through a mechanism that hasn’t been seen before.

While studying a material that could help unlock the secrets of superconductors, scientists have accidentally discovered a “demon” particle that was first theorized almost 70 years ago, but had never been experimentally confirmed.

Many quantum effects can only be produced at extremely cold temperatures, which limits how useful they would be in real-world tech. Now, Princeton researchers have demonstrated a strange quantum state taking place in a material at room temperature.

Movements at the particle scale happen extremely quickly, which makes it hard to see what’s going on in there. Now engineers have developed an “attoclock” that can take snapshots of electrons in increments as small as quintillionths of a second.

Researchers at MIT have observed “electron whirlpools” for the first time. The bizarre behavior arises when electricity flows as a fluid, which could make for more efficient electronics.

The microscopic world is important to understand, but tricky to study in detail. Researchers at EPFL have now developed a new microscopy technique that combines two existing ones, allowing scientists to build high-definition 3D images of cells inside and out.

Superconductivity occurs when electrons in a metal pair up. Scientists in Germany have now discovered that electrons can also group together into families of four, creating a new state of matter and potentially a new type of superconductivity.

Researchers have discovered a material that can switch between an insulator and a conductor freely, even at room temperature. The material, a compound of manganese and sulfide (MnS2), starts off as an insulator but becomes conductive under pressure.