Science & Technology - Posted by Anna Blackaby-Warwick on
Monday, October 1, 2012 10:33 - 1 Comment Electron ring images
confirm Landau Levels U. WARWICK (UK) — Physicists have directly
imaged Landau Levels for the first time since Nobel Prize-winner
Lev Landau conceived of them in 1930. Landau Levels are quantum
levels that determine electron behavior in a strong magnetic
field. Using scanning tunneling spectroscopy—a spatially
resolved probe that interacts directly with the
electrons—scientists at institutions including the University of
Warwick and Tohoku University have revealed the internal ring-
like structure of these Landau Levels at the surface of a
semiconductor. In the image, electrons form concentric rings,
which increase in number according to their energy level.
(Credit: U. Warwick) Straight from the Source The experimental
challenge in the work was to have sufficient spatial resolution
in order to overcome the intrinsic disorder in the material
which usually only allows the observation of smeare