VISUALISING THE INVISIBLE
Seeing and manipulating the invisible
Length: 3'22".
Extrait de "Nano, the next dimension, 01/2002, I-047944, 27'04"
©European Commission Research Directorate-General
Director: Pierre Oscar Lévy - Producer: Ex Nihilo.
To "see" atoms, we have to use scanning probe microscopes. These are equipped with a probe (a point with a single atom at its tip) that follows the surface of the object. A computer controls the real-time adjustment (through a servomechanism) of the height of the point to maintain a steady current (tunnel effect). The vertical movements of the point are recorded, precisely reproducing the topography of the surface. A scanning tunnelling microscope enables the measurement of variations in relief of less than 0.001 nanometres.
