In 1981, the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) was invented, followed 4 years later by the atomic force microscope (AFM)—and that’s when nano science and nanotechnology really started to take off. Various forms of scanning probe microscopes (SPM) based on these discoveries are essential for many areas of today’s research. Conventional optics cannot resolve objects measuring tens of nanometers or less because the visible wavelength of light is roughly between 400 and 750 nm. With scanning probe techniques,all of a sudden the nano world became accessible to scientists in many countries,and these instruments have been the workhorses of nano science and nanotechnology research ever since.‘
‘Today these methods are still making a tremendous impact on many disciplines that range from fundamental physics and chemistry through information technology, quantum computing, spintronics and molecular electronics,and all the way to life sciences,’’ Christoph Gerber and Hans Peter Lang from the National Competence Center for Research in Nano scale Science at the University of Basel in Switzerland write in an article in Nature Nanotechnology.1 ‘‘Indeed, some 4000 AFM-related papers were published in 2006 alone,bringing the total to 22 000 since it was invented, and the STM has inspired a total of 14 000 papers. There are also at least 500 patents related to the various forms of SPM. Commercialization of the technology started in earnest at the end of the 1980s, and approximately 10 000 commercial systems have been sold so far to customers in areas as diverse as fundamental research, the car industry and even the fashion industry. There are also a significant number of home built systems in operation. Today some 30–40 companies are involved in manufacturing SPM and related instruments, with an annual worldwide turnover of $250–300 million. Moreover, the market of SPMs is predicted to double over the next 5 years.’’
Unless they work in a state-of-the-art laboratory equipped with multi million dollar high-tech instruments, most people find it impossible to visualize nano scale objects. The overused description that one nanometer is 50 000–100 000 times smaller than the diameter of a hair isn’t really helpful either. Even scientists who work with the latest electron microscope techniques on a daily basis, and who have brought us all these amazing images from the nano world,often find it difficult, if not impossible, to make the mental connection between what they see with their own eyes and what the read-outs on their AFM show them. In this respect, a nano scientist peering into the nano realm isn’t that different from an astronomer looking at the farthest reaches of the observable universe—the scales, be it nanometers or light years, overwhelm our brain’s capacity for visualization.
While our five senses do a reasonably good job at representing the world around us on a macro scale, we have no existing intuitive representation of the nano world, ruled by laws entirely foreign to our experience. This is where molecules mingle to create proteins; where you wouldn’t recognize water as a liquid; and where minute morphological changes would reveal how much‘solid’ things such as the ground or houses are constantly vibrating and moving.Therefore, before we delve into the world of nano scale probing and imaging,our first story is about an idea that could result in tools to explore the boundaries between the nano scopic and the macroscopic worlds—touching nano scale water, shaking hands with bacteria, crushing a virus between your fingers, playing nano-Lego. For scientists, it could also lead to a new generation of professional lab tools that allow nano scale manipulation with precise control of tool interaction with nano-objects.
Source
Nano-Society
www.rsc.org/nanoscience
‘Today these methods are still making a tremendous impact on many disciplines that range from fundamental physics and chemistry through information technology, quantum computing, spintronics and molecular electronics,and all the way to life sciences,’’ Christoph Gerber and Hans Peter Lang from the National Competence Center for Research in Nano scale Science at the University of Basel in Switzerland write in an article in Nature Nanotechnology.1 ‘‘Indeed, some 4000 AFM-related papers were published in 2006 alone,bringing the total to 22 000 since it was invented, and the STM has inspired a total of 14 000 papers. There are also at least 500 patents related to the various forms of SPM. Commercialization of the technology started in earnest at the end of the 1980s, and approximately 10 000 commercial systems have been sold so far to customers in areas as diverse as fundamental research, the car industry and even the fashion industry. There are also a significant number of home built systems in operation. Today some 30–40 companies are involved in manufacturing SPM and related instruments, with an annual worldwide turnover of $250–300 million. Moreover, the market of SPMs is predicted to double over the next 5 years.’’
Unless they work in a state-of-the-art laboratory equipped with multi million dollar high-tech instruments, most people find it impossible to visualize nano scale objects. The overused description that one nanometer is 50 000–100 000 times smaller than the diameter of a hair isn’t really helpful either. Even scientists who work with the latest electron microscope techniques on a daily basis, and who have brought us all these amazing images from the nano world,often find it difficult, if not impossible, to make the mental connection between what they see with their own eyes and what the read-outs on their AFM show them. In this respect, a nano scientist peering into the nano realm isn’t that different from an astronomer looking at the farthest reaches of the observable universe—the scales, be it nanometers or light years, overwhelm our brain’s capacity for visualization.
While our five senses do a reasonably good job at representing the world around us on a macro scale, we have no existing intuitive representation of the nano world, ruled by laws entirely foreign to our experience. This is where molecules mingle to create proteins; where you wouldn’t recognize water as a liquid; and where minute morphological changes would reveal how much‘solid’ things such as the ground or houses are constantly vibrating and moving.Therefore, before we delve into the world of nano scale probing and imaging,our first story is about an idea that could result in tools to explore the boundaries between the nano scopic and the macroscopic worlds—touching nano scale water, shaking hands with bacteria, crushing a virus between your fingers, playing nano-Lego. For scientists, it could also lead to a new generation of professional lab tools that allow nano scale manipulation with precise control of tool interaction with nano-objects.
Source
Nano-Society
www.rsc.org/nanoscience
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