Scanning techniques are instrumental methodologies that acquire spatially resolved information from a specimen or environment by systematically interrogating it point-by-point or line-by-line, often using a focused probe such as photons, electrons, ions, or mechanical tips. These techniques include modalities like scanning electron microscopy, scanning probe microscopies, and various spectroscopic scanning methods, which map physical, chemical, or electronic properties across a surface or volume. Key parameters include spatial and temporal resolution, signal-to-noise ratio, and contrast mechanisms determined by probe–sample interactions. Scanning techniques are fundamental for nanoscale characterization, metrology, and defect analysis in materials science, biology, and semiconductor research.
Scientists at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a new way to determine atomic structures from nanocrystals previously considered unusable, a breakthrough that could ...
Nanomaterials
Mar 4, 2026
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Physicists in China have unveiled new clues to the origins of high-temperature superconductivity in an iron-based material just a single unit-cell thick. Led by Qi-Kun Xue and Lili Wang at Tsinghua University, the team's ...
Future devices will continue to probe the frontier of the very small, and at scales where functionality depends on mere atoms, even the tiniest flaw matters. Researchers at Rice University have shown that hard-to-spot defects ...
Nanophysics
Feb 26, 2026
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30
The world is never really at rest. Even in a vacuum near ultracold temperatures where all classical motion should come to a halt, you'll find quantum fluctuations. In thin, two-dimensional materials, these include random ...
Superconductivity
Feb 26, 2026
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494
Cleaning blood from a violent crime scene can complicate crime scene investigations, particularly when accurate evidence is required for a conviction in court. A new study led by Flinders University, published in the Australian ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Feb 26, 2026
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Physicists in Leiden have built a microscope that can measure no fewer than four key properties of a material in a single scan, all with nanoscale precision. The instrument can even examine complete quantum chips, accelerating ...
Nanophysics
Feb 12, 2026
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108
Researchers from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in collaboration with researchers from the Institute of Semiconductors of CAS, revealed anomalous oscillatory magnetoresistance ...
Condensed Matter
Feb 10, 2026
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50
MXene materials are promising candidates for a new energy storage technology. However, the processes by which the charge storage takes place were not yet fully understood. A team at HZB has examined, for the first time, individual ...
Nanomaterials
Feb 5, 2026
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56
Magnetism on the moon has always been a bit confusing. Remote sensing probes have noted there is some magnetic signature, but far from the strong cocoon that surrounds Earth itself. Previous attempts to detect it in returned ...
Planetary Sciences
Feb 3, 2026
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21
Researchers at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA published a step-by-step framework for determining the three-dimensional positions and elemental identities of atoms in amorphous materials. These solids, such as ...
Nanophysics
Jan 28, 2026
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