April 29, 2024

Scientists Use Nanoparticles To “Peel Back the Curtain” Into the World of Super-Small Things

The technology, which requires only a single nanoparticle to work, could be implemented into microscopic lens to assist researchers zoom into the world of incredibly small things at 10 times the resolution of traditional microscopes. This would make it possible for scientists to study objects that would otherwise be too small to see, such as the inner structures of cells and individual infections.
Being able to analyze such little items might help researchers better comprehend and battle certain illness and health conditions.
” Conventional microscopic lens are just able to study items bigger than about a ten-millionth of a meter. Nevertheless, there is growing need across a variety of sectors, consisting of the medical field, to be able to examine much smaller sized items down to one billionth of a meter,” lead author Dr. Anastasiia Zalogina, from the ANU Research School of Physics and the University of Adelaide, stated.
” Our innovation might help fulfill that demand.”
The scientists say the ANU-developed nanotech could help develop a brand-new generation of microscopes that can produce far more comprehensive images.
” Scientists who desire to produce a highly-magnified image of a very little, nanoscale things cant utilize a traditional optical microscope. Rather, they must count on either super-resolution microscopy methods or utilize an electron microscopic lense to study these tiny items,” Dr. Zalogina said.
” But such strategies are slow and the innovation is very pricey, often costing more than a million dollars.
” Another drawback of electron microscopy is that it might harm delicate samples being evaluated, whereas light-based microscopes mitigate this issue.”
Beams of light that we perceive as various colors of the rainbow are electromagnetic waves that oscillate with various frequencies.
What we see as red is the most affordable frequency that our eyes can discover. Violet has the greatest light frequency that we can see.
Our eyes can not find infrared and ultraviolet light, it is possible for us to see it using cams and other technologies.
Co-author Dr. Sergey Kruk, also from ANU, stated scientists are interested in accomplishing very high frequencies of light, also known as extreme-ultraviolet.
” With violet light, we can see much smaller sized things compared to utilizing traffic signal. And with extreme-ultraviolet lights, we can see things beyond whats possible utilizing standard microscopic lens these days,” Dr. Kruk said.
Dr. Kruk said the ANU innovation could also be utilized in the semiconductor market as a quality control measure to make sure a streamlined manufacturing process.
” Computer chips include really small parts with feature sizes nearly as small as one billionth of a meter. During the chip production process, it would be helpful for makers to utilize tiny sources of extreme-ultraviolet light to monitor this process in real-time to diagnose any problems early on,” he stated.
” That method makers could conserve resources and time on bad batches of chips, thereby increasing yields of chip production. Its approximated that a one percent increase in yields of computer system chip production translates into 2 billion dollars in savings.
” Australias thriving optics and photonics market is represented by nearly 500 business and accounts for about $4.3 billion of financial activity, making our high-tech ecosystem well-positioned to adopt brand-new kinds of source of lights in order to reach new global markets in nanotechnology industries and research.”
Reference: “High-harmonic generation from a subwavelength dielectric resonator” by Anastasiia Zalogina, Luca Carletti, Anton Rudenko, Jerome V. Moloney, Aditya Tripathi, Hoo-Cheol Lee, Ilya Shadrivov, Hong-Gyu Park, Yuri Kivshar and Sergey S. Kruk, 26 April 2023, Science Advances.DOI: 10.1126/ sciadv.adg2655.
This work was carried out in partnership with scientists from the University of Brescia, the University of Arizona and Korea University.

The ANU technology utilizes carefully engineered nanoparticles to increase the frequency of light that electronic cameras and other technologies see by up to seven times. The scientists say there is “no limit” to how high the frequency of light can be increased. The higher the frequency, the smaller sized the things we are able to see utilizing that light source.

An illustration revealing a single nanoparticle transforming low-frequency red light into extreme-ultraviolet light, which has a very high frequency. Credit: Anastasiia Zalogina/ANU
Physicists at The Australian National University (ANU) are using nanoparticles to develop innovative source of lights that will permit us to “peel back the drape” into the world of very tiny things– things that are thousands of times smaller than a human hair. This will result in considerable improvements in other and medical technological fields.
The findings, released in the journal Science Advances, hold enormous capacity for the field of medical science. It presents a effective and economical technique for taking a look at items that are too small to be seen by microscopes let alone the naked eye. This research study might also have a positive effect on the semiconductor market by improving the quality assurance process in the production of computer chips.
The ANU technology utilizes thoroughly crafted nanoparticles to increase the frequency of light that video cameras and other innovations see by as much as seven times. The researchers say there is “no limit” to how high the frequency of light can be increased. The greater the frequency, the smaller sized the object we are able to see utilizing that light.

What we see as red is the least expensive frequency that our eyes can detect. Violet has the greatest light frequency that we can see.