Clocking the Movements of Atoms

Roland Piquepaille writes "With special microscopes, scientists and engineers involved in nanotechnologies have been able to 'see' atoms for a while. But they couldn't clock the atomic response to events which typically occur in nanoseconds. Now, U.S. physicists have found a way to clock the movements of atoms at the nanometer scale. In their experiments, they were able to literally watch atoms switching positions in ferroelectric materials. Adding the dimension of time to the observation of the nanoworld could lead to easier developments of 'materials for improved memory applications in microelectronics.'"

Re:BS

[waxigloo]

There is a difference between seeing individual atoms move in ferroelectric domain inversion and 'investigating chemical reactions'. Femtosecond laser spectroscopy can really only tell you something about the atomic makeup of a sample and how it changes on a femtosecond timescale...not so much seeing atoms of the sample moving around. So, this is an important step and not so much 'BS' as you put it.