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Updated: May 17, 2026

Picometer-Precision Atomic Position Tracking through Electron Microscopy
Published on: July 3, 2021
Measuring electric field induced subpicometer displacement of step edge ions
Shigeki Kawai1, Filippo Federici Canova, Thilo Glatzel
1Department of Physics, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 82, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland. shigeki.kawai@unibas.ch
Abstract:
We provide unambiguous evidence that the applied electrostatic field displaces step atoms of ionic crystal surfaces by subpicometers in different directions via the measurement of the lateral force interactions by bimodal dynamic force microscopy combined with multiscale theoretical simulations. Such a small imbalance in the electrostatic interaction of the shifted anion-cation ions leads to an extraordinary long-range feature potential variation and is now detectable with the extreme sensitivity of the bimodal detection.

