Vanderbilt researchers Sokrates Pantelides and Joshua Caldwell are part of an international collaboration that has demonstrated a new way to manipulate and measure subtle atomic vibrations in nanomaterials. This breakthrough could make it possible to develop customized functionalities to improve on and build new technologies.
Electron beams in powerful microscopes have probed materials and nanostructures with atomic-scale resolution, imaged the atomic arrangements, and in combination with theory, unveiled electronic and magnetic properties. Recent developments in microscopy help make it possible to get direct signals from phonons, namely vibrational modes, with high resolution in both space and energy. Researchers can now measure distinct vibrational modes at interfaces in multilayered structures, defects, and other inhomogeneities.
"Our team combined such measurements with laser probes and theoretical investigations to obtain a complete picture of the underlying physics that ultimately will form the basis of new technologies," Pantelides said.
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