Scanning tunneling microscopy imaging of Torpedo acetylcholine receptor.

Scanning tunneling microscopy imaging of Torpedo acetylcholine receptor.

The synaptic surface of the acetylcholine receptor in membranes from Torpedo californica electric organ has been imaged by scanning tunneling microscopy. The molecule appears pentameric, with one major and four minor protrusions rising above the surface, and these protrusions encompass a large central cavity. The outer diameter of the molecule is 69 +/- 10 A, while the diameter of the cavity, m...

Imaging Anyons with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

Anyons are exotic quasiparticles with fractional charge that can emerge as fundamental excitations of strongly interacting topological quantum phases of matter. Unlike ordinary fermions and bosons, they may obey non-Abelian statistics—a property that would help realize fault-tolerant quantum computation. NonAbelian anyons have long been predicted to occur in the fractional quantum Hall (FQH) ph...

Microscopy, Scanning Tunneling

Ultrafast Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

The invention of the scanning tunneling microscope was a singularity event in the field of surface science and condensed matter physics. The ability to visualize individual atoms in an atomic structure was a huge step forward in experimental development, one for which the inventors were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986. While a groundbreaking development, the Scanning Tunneling Micros...