A new microscope that is able to image atoms in 3D, with a 100x better resolution than currently available, will be able to unravel the "DNA" of inorganic materials, and assist in the development of new materials.
The Atomic Microscope by Projection has been developed by Dr Peter Liddicoat, a PhD graduate of the University of Sydney's Materials Engineering. Startup company Atomnaut is also playing a role in making the new microscope a reality. The innovative and important nature of this project has secured Dr Liddicoat support from the AMP’s Tomorrow Fund, the AMP Foundation’s annual $1 million grants program.
"For the first time, we can measure the position and identity of every atom for millions of atoms at a time," Dr Liddicoat explained.
This detailed atomic data means it is possible to reverse-engineer the world's materials one atom at a time, and could also hold the answers for how to engineer longer-lasting batteries, quantum computing chips, improved solar cells or even higher-temperature superconductivity.
This knowledge of a materials' complete atomic structure has been dubbed the material's "DNA" or "genome". By providing insight into this detailed information, the Atom Microscope by Projection will be one of the key developments needed to unlock powerful computer design methods that are able to rapidly develop new materials for different applications, reducing material development costs by a factor of 10 or more.
"Like human DNA, we will be able to read the atomic blueprint for a material, decode it, then redesign it," Dr Liddicoat said.
The University of Sydney's Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies has been supporting Dr Liddicoat's endeavours over the past 18 months though the Sydney Accelerator Network (SAN-IT) program.
SAN-IT provides a platform for students, graduates, academics and industry practitioners to collaborate and come up with innovative solutions to challenging problems, and to pursue opportunities for creating new products and services. It has state-of-the-art infrastructure, allowing rapid experimentation of innovative ideas and developing and testing prototype solutions.