New Device Can Take Photographs With a Single Atom (opens in new tab)

see individual atoms in photographs. It’s one of the great triumphs of imaging. What, then, of the inverse? Can you use a single atom to capture an image?Single atoms are probably not replacing smartphone cameras soon, but an atom can be used to measure light. One research group at the Institute for Molecular Science in Okazaki, Japan, has now used this ability to develop what they call an “atom camera,” which can capture patterns of light far too small to see with standard optical microscope...