Scientists achieve atomic-level imaging of light polarization
Researchers have developed a technique to detect linear dichroism—how materials absorb polarized light differently—at atomic resolution, a advance published in Nature Materials. The breakthrough could accelerate development of optical sensors, pharmaceutical quality control, and materials science applications where molecular structure directly affects light interaction.
Originaltitel: Detecting linear dichroism with atomic resolution
X-ray linear dichroism has been pivotal for probing electronic anisotropies, but its inherent limited spatial resolution precludes the atomic-scale investigations of orbital polarization. Here we introduce a versatile electron linear dichroism methodology in scanning transmission electron microscopy that overcomes these constraints. Using electron energy loss spectroscopy with an atomic-sized probe and selecting momentum transfers along two orthogonal directions, we directly visualize orbital occupation at individual atomic columns in real space. Using strained La