Credit: Image courtesy of Molecular Foundry, Berkeley Lab
Scientists made a discovery relevant to the electronic and optical properties of thin materials. Lines of missing atoms that cross the surface like veins function as “wires” to channel electrons and packets of light called photons, improving the material’s ability to conduct electricity and convert light. The defects are located between parallel lines in the microscopy image (left). Zooming in (right image) shows two parallel lines of high charge density on either side of the linear defect producing the wire. The theoretical atomic structure (right, bottom) shows the missing line of selenium atoms in gold.