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The scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and the atomic force microscope (AFM), both capable of visualizing and manipulating individual atoms, are the cornerstones of nanoscience and nanotechnology today. The inventors of STM, Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer, were awarded with the Nobel Prize of physics in 1986. Both microscopes are based on mechanically scanning an atomically sharp tip over a sample surface, with quantum-mechanical tunneling or atomic forces between the tip and the atoms on the sample as the measurable quantities. This book presents the principles of STM and AFM, and the experimental details. Part I presents the principles from a unified point of view: the Bardeen theory of tunneling phenomenon, and the Herring-Landau theory of covalent-bond force. The similarity between those two theories, both rooted from the Heisenberg-Pauling concept of quantum-mechanical resonance, points to the equivalence of tunneling and covalent-bond force. The Tersoff-Hamann model of STM is presented, including the original derivation. The mechanisms of atomic-scale imaging of both STM and AFM are discussed. Part II presents the instrumentation and experimental techniques of STM and AFM, including piezoelectric scanners, vibration isolation, electronics and control, mechanical design, tip treatment and characterization, scanning tunneling spectroscopy, and atomic force detection techniques. Part II ends with illustrative applications of STM and AFM in various fields of research and technology.

This book covers both practical and theoretical aspects of atomic resolution transmission electron microscopy. The discovery of the carbon nanotube, the three-dimensional imaging of the ribosome, and the imaging of a single foreign atom inside a thin crystal by energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy have all demonstrated the immense power of this technique. The recent development of aberration-correction devices has brought the spatial resolution of the method below one Angstrom. The emphasis throughout is on a clear presentation of fundamental concepts, and practical advice. The chapters review simple electron optics, phase contrast theory, coherence theory, and imaging theory for thin crystals. The multiple scattering theory is given in full, and the relationship between the various formulations (Bloch-wave, multislice, scattering matrix, Howie–Whelan equations, phase grating etc) is explained. Applications in biology and materials science are covered, with discussions of radiation damage, sample preparation, image processing and super-resolution, electron holography, and aberration correction. The theory of high-angle annular dark field Z-contrast imaging by scanning transmission electron microscopy is given in full. Additional chapters are devoted to electron sources and detectors, fault diagnosis, experimental methods and associated techniques such as channelling effects in X-ray microanalysis, microdiffraction, cathodoluminescence, environmental microscopy and electron energy-loss spectroscopy.

Nanomagnetism is a rapidly expanding area of research in nanoscience, opening perspectives of novel applications. Magnetic molecules are at the very bottom of the possible size of nanomagnets, and they provide a unique opportunity to observe the coexistence of quantum and classical properties. The discovery in the early 1990s that a cluster comprising twelve manganese ions shows magnetic hysteresis of molecular origin accompanied by quantum tunnelling of the magnetization opened a new research, which is flourishing through the collaboration of chemists and physicists. The field is often indicated as single molecule magnets (SMM). This book attempts to cover in detail the area of molecular nanomagnetism — a branch of molecular magnetism — using a language which should be understood by both the physical and chemical communities. The book starts from the development of theory needed to understand the nature of the properties of molecular nanomagnets, including magnetic coupling and magnetic anisotropy. The most common experimental techniques needed to investigate the properties of molecular nanomagnets are covered to allow the reader to understand how sophisticated instrumentation can provide unique information on SMM. Particular attention is devoted to magnetic relaxation, highlighting the interplay of classical and quantum behaviours. Appendices cover topics which would require too many digressions in the main text, ranging from systems of units to master equations for the density matrix.

High-resolution electron microscopy covers both the practice and theory of atomic-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in all its modern forms and applications, with the aim of ‘seeing atoms’ This new edition takes full account of the discovery of aberration correction techniques, which now allow electron microscopes to see detail as small as one atom. The type and arrangement of atoms gives materials their properties and organisms their function. The book presents clearly the underlying theory of atomic-resolution TEM and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), and also contains detailed practical advice, with examples. The book includes chapters devoted to cryo-electron microscopy (for biologists) and nanoscience (for materials scientists and condensed matter physicists). Additional chapters are devoted to imaging at atomic resolution in three dimensions, to a review of electron optics, to electron sources and detectors, electron holography, electron microdiffraction methods, phase-contrast theory, the theory of aberration correction, energy-loss spectroscopy, cathodoluminescence in STEM, diagnosis of resolution-limiting factors, experimental technique, data analysis software, auto-tuning, electron Ronchigrams, and the measurement of mechanical and electronic instabilities.

This short book describes ten fundamental concepts – big ideas – of materials science. Some of them come from mainstream physics and chemistry, including thermodynamic stability and phase diagrams, symmetry, and quantum behaviour. Others are about restless atomic motion and thermal fluctuations, defects in crystalline materials as the agents of change in materials, nanoscience and nanotechnology, materials design and materials discovery, metamaterials, and biological matter as a material. A cornerstone of materials science is the idea that materials are complex systems that interact with their environments and display the emergence of new science from the collective behaviour of atoms and defects. Great attention is paid to the clarity of explanations using only high school algebra and quoting the occasional useful formula. Exceptionally, elementary calculus is used in the chapter on metamaterials. It is not a text-book, but it offers undergraduates and their teachers a unique overview and insight into materials science. It may also help graduates of other subjects to decide whether to study materials science at postgraduate level.

The scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) was invented by Binnig and Rohrer and received a Nobel Prize of Physics in 1986. Together with the atomic force microscope (AFM), it enables non-destructive observing and mapping atoms and molecules on solid surfaces down to a picometer resolution. A recent development is the non-destructive observation of wavefunctions in individual atoms and molecules, including nodal structures inside the wavefunctions. STM and AFM have become indespensible instruments for scientists of various disciplines, including physicists, chemists, engineers, and biologists to visualize and utilize the microscopic world around us. Since the publication of the first edition in 1993, this book has been recognized as a standard introduction for everyone that starts working with scanning probe microscopes, and a useful reference book for those more advanced in the field. After an Overview chapter accessible for newcomers at an entry level presenting the basic design, scientific background, and illustrative applications, the book has three Parts. Part I, Principles, provides the most systematic and detailed theory of its scientific bases from basic quantum mechancis and condensed-metter physics in all available literature. Quantitative analysis of its imaging mechanism for atoms, molecules, and wavefunctions is detailed. Part II, Instrumentation, provides down to earth descriptions of its building components, including piezoelectric scanners, vibration isolation, electronics, software, probe tip preparation, etc. Part III, Related methods, presenting two of its most important siblings, scanning tunnelling specgroscopy and atomic force miscsoscopy. The book has five appendices for background topics, and 405 references for further readings.