{"id":5403,"date":"2011-08-01T11:52:16","date_gmt":"2011-08-01T15:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sciencebusiness.technewslit.com\/?p=5403"},"modified":"2011-08-01T11:57:58","modified_gmt":"2011-08-01T15:57:58","slug":"cold-electrons-aid-nanoscale-imaging-and-processes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/?p=5403","title":{"rendered":"Cold Electrons Aid Nanoscale Imaging and Processes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/IceCubes_LizWestFlickr.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-5405\" title=\"IceCubes_LizWestFlickr\" src=\"http:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/IceCubes_LizWestFlickr.jpg\" alt=\"Ice cubes (Liz West\/Flickr)\" width=\"275\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/IceCubes_LizWestFlickr.jpg 275w, https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/IceCubes_LizWestFlickr-150x109.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 275px) 100vw, 275px\" \/><\/a>Physicists at <a href=\"http:\/\/newsroom.melbourne.edu\/news\/n-591\">University of Melbourne<\/a> in Australia have developed a new source of ultra-cold electrons that can improve the quality and speed of nanoscale imaging for processes such as drug and materials development. The team&#8217;s findings appear online in the journal <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/nphys\/journal\/vaop\/ncurrent\/full\/nphys2052.html\"><em>Nature Physics<\/em><\/a> (paid subscription required).<\/p>\n<p>The researchers led by Melbourne physics professor Robert Scholten used lasers to cool atoms to a few millionths of a degree above absolute zero and then to extract a beam of extremely cold electrons. Scholten compared the difference between hot and cold electrons to that of diffuse, indirect light from a light bulb and the direct beam of a laser.<\/p>\n<p>With the new laser-based process, the team created beams in complex shapes. Because of the very low temperature of the electrons, the beam retains that shape, rather than exploding as it would for a conventional hot electron source. Scholten says, &#8220;This new cold source will allow us to see dynamic processes within the sample, to understand how it functions on a more precise level.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The new process also makes nanoscale imaging instantaneous; one nanometer equals one billionth of a meter. The authors say images that used to take minutes or hours to produce will be replaced by snapshots of entire samples at atomic resolution in as little as a trillionth of a second.<\/p>\n<p>The increased precision and speed of nanoscale images can lead to better targeted drugs. Scholten notes that &#8220;Having a better visibility of the structure of a cell membrane protein and how it functions will assist in more targeted drug design.&#8221; The process can also help better understand vulnerabilities in critical materials, such as those used in jet engine turbines.<\/p>\n<p>Read more: <a href=\"http:\/\/sciencebusiness.technewslit.com\/?p=3519\">Nanoparticles Improve Delivery of Chemotherapy Drugs<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Photo: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/calliope\/2591108804\/in\/photostream\/\">Liz West\/Flickr<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Physicists at University of Melbourne in Australia have developed a new source of ultra-cold electrons that can improve the quality and speed of nanoscale imaging for processes such as drug and materials development. The team&#8217;s findings appear online in the journal Nature Physics (paid subscription required). The researchers led by Melbourne physics professor Robert Scholten [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[111,96,43,18,27,105,47,26],"class_list":["post-5403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-products","tag-australia","tag-chemistry","tag-materials-science","tag-nanotechnology","tag-pharmaceuticals","tag-physical-sciences","tag-physics","tag-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5403"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5408,"href":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5403\/revisions\/5408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}