Discovering How to Focus on Tiniest of the Very Small

This image of a lattice crystal was captured by Cornell researchers using a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) at IBM. The yellow circles in the center of each pear-shaped molecule represent the stronger signal produced by a large atom; the red portions that make up the top of each pear shape show the weaker signal of the smaller atoms. The image allows researchers to see the orientation of the individual atoms within a crystal for the first time, thus giving researchers a vital tool for predicting the crystal's properties. A model of the molecular structure is superimposed on the image.