Techniques and instrumentation articles within Nature

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  • Article |

    So far, only indirect evidence of Wigner crystals has been reported, but a specially designed scanning tunnelling microscope is used here to directly image them in a moiré heterostructure.

    • Hongyuan Li
    • , Shaowei Li
    •  & Feng Wang
  • Article |

    Optical imaging of single-molecule electrochemical reactions in aqueous solution enables super-resolution electrochemiluminescence microscopy, which can be used to monitor the adhesion dynamics of live cells with high spatiotemporal resolution.

    • Jinrun Dong
    • , Yuxian Lu
    •  & Jiandong Feng
  • Article |

    Cellular fluidics provides a platform of unit-cell-based, three-dimensional structures for the deterministic control of multiphase flow, transport and reaction processes.

    • Nikola A. Dudukovic
    • , Erika J. Fong
    •  & Eric B. Duoss
  • Article |

    A localization algorithm is applied to datasets obtained with conventional and high-speed atomic force microscopy to increase image resolution beyond the limits set by the radius of the tip used.

    • George R. Heath
    • , Ekaterina Kots
    •  & Simon Scheuring
  • Article |

    Nanoscale imaging of edge currents in charge-neutral graphene shows that charge accumulation can explain various exotic nonlocal transport measurements, bringing into question some theories about their origins.

    • A. Aharon-Steinberg
    • , A. Marguerite
    •  & E. Zeldov
  • Article |

    Mapping the operational chemical, physical and electronic structure of an oxygen evolution electrocatalyst at the nanoscale links the properties of the material with the observed oxygen evolution activity.

    • J. Tyler Mefford
    • , Andrew R. Akbashev
    •  & William C. Chueh
  • Article |

    The orientation of a rotating para-xylene molecule in the nanochannel of a zeolite framework can be visualised by electron microscopy to determine the host–guest van der Waals interaction inside the channel.

    • Boyuan Shen
    • , Xiao Chen
    •  & Fei Wei
  • Article |

    The pressure dependence and magnetic field dependence of the specific heat of a quantum magnet, SrCu2(BO3)2, demonstrate that its phase diagram contains a line of first-order transitions terminating at a critical point, in analogy with water.

    • J. Larrea Jiménez
    • , S. P. G. Crone
    •  & F. Mila
  • Article |

    Using lanthanide-doped nanomaterials and flexible substrates, an approach that enables flat-panel-free, high-resolution, three-dimensional imaging is demonstrated and termed X-ray luminescence extension imaging.

    • Xiangyu Ou
    • , Xian Qin
    •  & Xiaogang Liu
  • Article |

    State-of-the-art electron energy-loss spectroscopy in a transmission electron microscope maps the detailed phonon spectra of single defects in silicon carbide

    • Xingxu Yan
    • , Chengyan Liu
    •  & Xiaoqing Pan
  • Article |

    By combining the use of photoswitchable photoinitators and intersecting light beams, objects and complex systems can be produced rapidly with higher definition than is possible using state-of-the art macroscopic volumetric methods.

    • Martin Regehly
    • , Yves Garmshausen
    •  & Stefan Hecht
  • Article |

    A direct ink writing protocol for silica aerogels enables 3D printing of lightweight, miniaturized objects with complex shapes, with the possibility to easily add functionality by incorporating nanoparticles.

    • Shanyu Zhao
    • , Gilberto Siqueira
    •  & Wim J. Malfait
  • Article |

    A mobile robot autonomously operates analytical instruments in a wet chemistry laboratory, performing a photocatalyst optimization task much faster than a human would be able to.

    • Benjamin Burger
    • , Phillip M. Maffettone
    •  & Andrew I. Cooper
  • Article |

    Hydroxylapatite crystallites in human dental enamel show gradients in chemical composition, with a layer of magnesium enrichment on each side of a core rich in sodium, fluoride and carbonate ions.

    • Karen A. DeRocher
    • , Paul J. M. Smeets
    •  & Derk Joester
  • Article |

    An imaging method combining soft-landing electrospray ion beam deposition and low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy resolves the structures of glycans at sub-nanometre resolution, revealing the connectivity of glycan chains and the types of linkages.

    • X. Wu
    • , M. Delbianco
    •  & K. Kern
  • Article |

    The coupling between light and relativistic free electrons is enhanced through phase matching of electrons with optical whispering-gallery modes in dielectric microspheres and through extended modal lifetimes.

    • Ofer Kfir
    • , Hugo Lourenço-Martins
    •  & Claus Ropers
  • Article |

    The strong interaction of coherent free electrons with a photonic-crystal cavity enables the measurement of the lifetimes of the cavity modes and provides a technique for multidimensional near-field imaging and spectroscopy.

    • Kangpeng Wang
    • , Raphael Dahan
    •  & Ido Kaminer
  • Article |

    Atomic-resolution observations combined with simulations show that grain boundaries within elemental copper undergo temperature-induced solid-state phase transformation to different structures; grain boundary phases can also coexist and are kinetically trapped structures.

    • Thorsten Meiners
    • , Timofey Frolov
    •  & Christian H. Liebscher
  • Article |

    Spectral analysis of the VIRTIS dataset shows two opposite seasonal colour cycles in the coma and on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, indicating an orbital water-ice cycle.

    • Gianrico Filacchione
    • , Fabrizio Capaccioni
    •  & Stefano Mottola
  • Article |

    A carrier-resolved photo-Hall technique is developed to extract properties of both majority and minority carriers simultaneously and determine the critical parameters of semiconductor materials under light illumination.

    • Oki Gunawan
    • , Seong Ryul Pae
    •  & Byungha Shin
  • Article |

    Cryo-electron microscopy and high-speed atomic force microscopy reveal that PIEZO1 can reversibly deform its shape towards a planar structure, which may explain how the PIEZO1 channel is gated in response to mechanical stimulation.

    • Yi-Chih Lin
    • , Yusong R. Guo
    •  & Simon Scheuring
  • Letter |

    Titration gas chromatography is developed as an analytical method of distinguishing between lithium metal and lithium compounds within a cycled battery and assessing the amount of unreacted metallic lithium available.

    • Chengcheng Fang
    • , Jinxing Li
    •  & Ying Shirley Meng
  • Letter |

    The thermal conductance of single-molecule junctions is measured using picowatt-resolution calorimetric scanning probes and is found to be nearly independent of the length of the alkanedithiol molecules studied.

    • Longji Cui
    • , Sunghoon Hur
    •  & Edgar Meyhofer
  • Letter |

    Radio interferometric observations of lightning over the Netherlands reveal small needle-shaped plasma structures associated with the positive leader channels, explaining why cloud-to-ground lightning connects to the ground multiple times.

    • B. M. Hare
    • , O. Scholten
    •  & P. Zucca
  • Letter |

    A refractive lens and a refractive prism for extreme-ultraviolet radiation have been developed that use the deflection of the radiation in an inhomogeneous jet of atoms.

    • L. Drescher
    • , O. Kornilov
    •  & B. Schütte
  • Letter |

    A lithographic patterning and release method is used to create a dense, fluctuating, Brownian system of mobile colloidal kite- and dart-shaped Penrose tiles over large areas that retains quasi-crystalline order.

    • Po-Yuan Wang
    •  & Thomas G. Mason