TEM Captures Four-Dimensional Pictures of Molecules

An ultra-fast transmission electron microscope (TEM) takes four-dimensional (4D) pictures of molecules three-dimensional (3D) structural changes over time--as they form and break apart.

Located at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech; Pasadena, CA, USA) the modified TEM is interfaced with an ultrafast laser. It captures reactions that occur at extremely fast rates--one billionth of one millionth of a second, or a femtosecond--that cannot be seen directly in real-time by other instruments.

In 1999, Caltech chemist Prof. Ahmed H. Zewail was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his pioneering studies of ultrafast reactions. His colleagues are now making refinements to the ultrafast microscope and plan to capture a wider variety of images, including the details of whole cells.

Caltech is negotiating an agreement with a microscope manufacturer to commercialize the instrument and make it available to other scientists, according an article in the December 24, 2007 issue of Chemical & Engineering News, the American Chemical Society's (ACS; Washington, DC, USA) weekly newsmagazine. The unique electron microscope that can help create four-dimensional "movies” of molecules may hold the answers to important questions in a number of fields including chemistry, biology, and physics the article stated.


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