Superconducting lens unlocks high‑res quantum images, confirming a 20‑year prediction
A Chicago physicist, Dirk Morr of UIC, proposed two decades ago that superconductors could act as tiny lenses to project high‑resolution quantum images from electron waves. After years of experimental hurdles, a 2023 Hamburg study placed a rectangular corral of silver atoms on a superconducting surface with an iron atom inside and observed a quantum image that closely matches Morr’s predictions, aided by a theoretical multilayer model. Published in Nature Physics, the work confirms Morr’s idea and demonstrates a way to image atoms with minimal perturbation.
