Researchers at a US university have produced a microscopy technique that is so powerful that it can visualise atoms vibrating.

The team at Cornell University in New York have developed this technique by combining a 3D reconstruction algorithm with an electron microscope pixel array detector (EMPAD) according to an article on phys.org.

After initially setting a resolution record by using this process three years ago, the engineers have looked to have gone a step further.

“This doesn’t just set a new record. It’s reached a regime which is effectively going to be an ultimate limit for resolution,” said David Muller, who is the Samuel B. Eckert Professor of Engineering at Cornell University. 

“We basically can now figure out where the atoms are in a very easy way. This opens up a whole lot of new measurement possibilities of things we’ve wanted to do for a very long time.” 

There could be a further opportunity to break the record yet again in the future by using sample materials that host heavier atoms, or by simply reducing the sample’s temperature.