Researchers develop method to measure positions of atomic sites with new precision

Using a state-of-the-art microscope and new methods in image processing, a multi-institutional team of researchers has devised an inventive way to measure the positions of single atomic sites in materials more precisely than ever before. In a paper published June 11, 2014 , the team demonstrated the ability to locate atoms in high-resolution images of materials to better than one picometer, or one-hundredth of a nanometer. That is more than five times better than previous imaging methods. Andrew Yankovich, a materials science and engineering graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is the first author on the paper. The new technique enables researchers to pinpoint previously undetectable shifts of single atomic sites in a material. Insights into these atomic shifts could help pave the way for innovative new materials. "Before our work, scientists could use X-ray diffraction techniques to measure millions of atoms at a time, and if a whole bunch of those atoms move a little closer or a little farther apart, that shift is measureable," says co-author Paul Voyles , an associate professor of materials science and engineering at UW-Madison.