Vacuum Tunneling: A New Technique for Microscopy

• Published in: Physics Today
• Main Author: Quate, Calvin F.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: AIP Publishing 1986
• Subjects: Iceland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.881071; https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/article-pdf/39/8/26/8296911/26_1_online.pdf

I was introduced to vacuum tunneling high over the Atlantic while flying to London in April 1982. For months prior to that flight I had been fretting about the future work of our microscopy research group at Stanford. We had just completed our work in acoustic microscopy and were looking for new directions. I was considering a variety of problems, such as the building of an x-ray microscope, but nothing would fall into place. I thought that a trip to a conference in London might provide some time to get away and think. On the way to the airport I stopped by my office and picked up the latest issue of this magazine. I think we were over Iceland when I opened it and found a report (PHYSICS TODAY, April 1982, page 21) on a new form of scanning microscopy being developed in Zurich. In London, I changed my travel plans and went to Zurich. It proved to be the start of an adventure for our group, an adventure that still continues, undiminished in excitement.