A new technique lets see atomic structure in 3-D

Jianwei Miao and colleagues have developed an electron tomography method to image the 3-D structure of a gold nanoparticle at a resolution of 2.4 angstroms. Individual atoms are observed in some regions of the particle and several grains are identified in three dimensions. In the figure, the four three-dimensional grains (green and gold; blue and red) form two pairs of twin boundaries inside the nanoparticle. Credit: Jianwei Miao/UCLA Physics & Astronomy, CNSI 

(PhysOrg.com) -- UCLA researchers are now able to peer deep within the world's tiniest structures to create three-dimensional images of individual atoms and their positions. Their research, published March 22 in the journal Nature, presents a new method for directly measuring the atomic structure of nanomaterials.