First photo of shadow of single atom http://phys.org/news/2012-07-photo-shadow-atom.html
Excerpts: ============= Holding an atom still long enough to take its photo, while remarkable in itself, is not new technology; the atom is isolated within a chamber and held in free space by electrical forces. Professor Kielpinski and his colleagues trapped single atomic ions of the element ytterbium and exposed them to a specific frequency of light. Under this light the atom's shadow was cast onto a detector, and a digital camera was then able to capture the image. "By using the ultra hi-res microscope we were able to concentrate the image down to a smaller area than has been achieved before, creating a darker image which is easier to see", Professor Kielpinski said. The precision involved in this process is almost beyond imagining. "If we change the frequency of the light we shine on the atom by just one part in a billion, the image can no longer be seen," Professor Kielpinski said. =============== RE: the statement, ". the atom is isolated within a chamber and held in free space by electrical forces." Well it's about time! I proposed this exact process years ago, except using the simplest atom, hydrogen, in order to better elucidate what exactly is going on. All you need is a way to 'hold' a single atom in free space, and then a strobe light, which would be attosecond laser pulses, and the ability to slowly vary the phase of the attosecond pulses, and one will discover what the electron REALLY is; you will be able to stop-action its motions, and by varying the phase and frequency of the pulses, see the electron's exact trajectory. Oh, one might also need a static magnetic field to help keep the atom in a constant physical orientation relative to your strobe light and your imaging device. Sounds simple enough... J -Mark
