Oct. 17, 2011

Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy: Imaging the Inside of Complex Molecules

Scanning tunnelling microscopes are among the most important and most widely used tools for visualizing structures at the atomic level. In the past, however, it was virtually impossible to use them to penetrate inside complex molecules. Jülich researchers have now cleared another hurdle in order to overcome this limitation. Using individual atoms between the tip of the microscope and the sample as a sort of contrast medium, they image the inner structure of the molecule as well as the intermolecular forces. moreOct. 29, 2010

How Graphene Nanotubes Interact

In awarding this year's Nobel Prize in Physics, the Nobel Prize Committee referred to graphene as a material with exceptional properties and huge potential for fabricating new materials and manufacturing innovative electronics. When a layer of graphene is rolled up to a seemless cylinder, a carbon nanotube is formed. The young investigators group of Dr Carola Meyer studied what happens if several of these tubes stick into each other. moreAug. 23, 2010

Take a Look Inside Molecules

So far it has been difficult to observe atomic structures inside organic molecules. In the journal Physical Review Letters, Jülich researchers from Germany explain their novel method, which enables them to take an "X- ray view" inside molecules. The method may facilitate the analysis of organic semiconductors and proteins. moreNov. 11, 2009

Work Begins on Laboratory for World's Most Powerful Microscope

With a groundbreaking ceremony, work began on an extension to the Ernst Ruska-Centre (ER-C) on the campus of Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany. Under the umbrella of the Jülich Aachen Research Alliance (JARA), from 2010 the Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons, founded jointly by RWTH Aachen University and Forschungszentrum Jülich, will be operating a unique electron microscope with a world-beating resolution of 50 billionths of a millimetre. more