Seeing with Atoms by Dr Andrew Jardine, Cavendish Laboratory

Thu 12 November 2020

Online

First there were optical microscopes, then electron microscopes, now with just three in the World, helium atom microscopes present a novel view at the microscopic scale. Helium atoms are neutral, they don’t damage the sample that you are investigating, and you don’t need to prepare the sample in advance. But neutral atoms present a challenge – how do you focus a beam of neutral atoms? What resolution can you achieve? During this lecture you will hear how school physics is applied in this cutting edge research and see what organic samples, like shark skin, look like in a helium atom microscope image.

This popular, long established sixth form lecture series has gone online. For more information, including event structure, registration details and a risk assessment, visit https://outreach.phy.cam.ac.uk/programme/cpc.

Cost: Free