9.有污迹的窗户
这幅图片看上去像是一块玻璃有污迹的窗户,但其实它是晶体顶部一层薄薄铁薄膜的磁畴(magnetic domain)。这里的晶体是由镁和镓砷酸盐制成的。意大利ELETTRA同步辐射光源实验室研究人员索利曼·墨索奥尼采用X光线磁循环二色性技术,结合光电子-发射显微镜方法,缔造了这个惊人画面。如果你看到这幅图画时并没有感到丝毫吃惊,那一个更为简单的解释是,墨索奥尼用强大X光线的两个相对偏振分束对其样本进行拍摄,接着从一个个文件上删减数据点。
Although it looks like a stained-glass window, this image shows the magnetic domains of a thin iron film sitting atop a crystal made from magnesium and gallium arsenate. Souliman el Moussaoui, a researcher at the ELETTRA Synchrotron Light Laboratory in Italy, used X-ray magnetic circular dichroism with photoelectron-emission microscopy to create the striking picture. If you didn't pass out trying to read that, a simpler explanation is that el Moussaoui shot the sample with two oppositely polarized beams of powerful X-rays -- and then subtracted the data points in one file from the other.