Scientists write that parts of any material react and change in “surprising and unexpected” ways. Studying this dynamic disorder is difficult because not only are clusters of atoms so small and disordered, they fluctuate over time. There is also a “boring” non-fluctuating irregularity in the materials that is of no interest to researchers. Until now, it was impossible to see significant dynamic disturbance against the background of a less significant static disturbance.
Researchers at Columbia Engineering and the Université de Bourgogne say they have developed a new type of “camera” that can see dynamic clutter. Its key feature is variable shutter speed: as irregular atomic clusters move, dynamic clutter is blurred with a slow shutter, but visible with a fast shutter. The new method, which they call variable shutter PDF, doesn’t work like a conventional camera — it uses neutrons to measure the position of atoms, at a shutter speed of about one picosecond, a trillion times faster than conventional camera shutters.
Source: Ferra
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