Scientists Develop Plans for Ultimate Microscope
This article informed the reader about the ultimate microscope that the scientists at University of Sheffield have been trying to develop. Even before, they are the same group of scientists who made an innovative way to take the images of atoms into view in living cells without the aid of the lenses. Currently, they are in the planning stage of creating what they call the ultimate x-ray microscope.This microscope could be utilized in taking high resolution 3D images of any molecular structures. With the help from other institutions, they have been able to greatly improve the image capability of current x-ray microscope without using the lens. In conventional microscope, the lens is used in order to magnify the small objects. This technique depends mainly on the waves that make up radiation to interfere with one another so that they could build up the image. Nevertheless, the image could easily be ruined with the slightest error in the lens. Usually, the usual x-ray microscope image is approximately about one hundred times more blurred than it should be. Now, the scientists have developed a new technique that utilizes diffraction patterns collected from different areas of the object to provide information about how the object has scattered the x-rays. Then, they would employ these patterns, together with computing programs, so that they could come up with complete depiction of the structure. This only means that the objects of any size of shape could be image with high quality. According to one of the scientists planning with this project, the key development here is that the computer could now be used in calculating the phase of the high resolution data. This could not be possible if one is only using the lens. With this ultimate microscope, it could even be possible to entertain the idea of making a solid state optical microscope, built into chip without optical elements at all. All the flaws and limitations of lens could then be replaced through this combination of computers and good quality detectors. Furthermore, the experts added that the ultimate goal of this project is to able to take into high resolution 3D images of any molecular structures with the use of ultimate X-ray or electron microscope. Read the original article and other related topics. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070319175757.htm