Can You Keep Zooming In Infinitely?

Aberration correction technology

They can't see atoms with visible light because atoms are over 3000 times smaller than light's wavelength. Electrons, with much shorter wavelengths, are used instead. Aberration correction technology now allows direct imaging of single atoms.

• ⚛️ Atoms are about 0.1 nanometers, while visible light wavelengths are 380-750 nanometers.
• ⚡ Electrons have wavelengths as small as 2-3 picometers, over 100,000 times smaller than visible light.
• 🔬 The first electron microscope was built in 1931, but early versions had limited magnification.
• 🧲 Spherical aberration, a flaw in magnetic lenses, limited resolution until aberration correctors were developed.
• 💡 Aberration correctors use multiple non-symmetric magnetic lenses to cancel out spherical aberration.

A man's face is partially obscured by three magnifying lenses, each showing a progressively closer view of an eye, and then a grid pattern.