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In 2023, researchers used synchrotron X-rays and a specialized scanning-tunnelling-microscope tip to detect elemental and chemical-state signals from individual iron and terbium atoms. The result was not a conventional photograph of an atom: it was a highly localized spectroscopic measurement that revealed which element was present and provided information about its chemical state.
What the “first X-ray image” actually showed
The phrase “first X-ray image of a single atom” is an accessible description of the result, but it can give the wrong impression. The experiment did not produce a tiny camera-style picture showing an atom’s appearance. It detected an X-ray absorption signal localized to an individual atom, yielding information about its elemental identity and chemical state. The primary paper describes the achievement as using X-rays to “characterize the elemental and chemical state of just one atom.” Nature’s paper reports the experiment in detail.
How the technique detected one atom
Conventional X-ray characterization generally measures signals from many atoms together. In this experiment, synchrotron X-rays excited core-level electrons in an atom, and a specialized tip positioned extremely close to the sample registered the resulting current. The detector was integrated with a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM), which can position a conductive tip with atomic-scale precision.
The signal was detected only when the tip sat directly above the target atom and in extreme proximity. That spatial selectivity is central to the claim: the measured X-ray response could be assigned to a particular atom rather than inferred from a larger collection of atoms. For the iron atom, the paper reports that X-ray-excited resonance tunnelling (X-ERT) was the dominant contribution to the near-edge absorption signal.
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Which atoms and signals were measured
The team studied individual iron and terbium atoms coordinated to organic ligands. It observed element-specific absorption-edge fingerprints: the iron L2,3 edges and the terbium M4,5 edges. These signatures provided evidence of the atoms’ elemental and chemical-state characteristics at the single-atom limit.
The paper, “Characterization of just one atom using synchrotron X-rays,” was published online in Nature on 31 May 2023, in volume 618, pages 69–73. Tolulope M. Ajayi is the first-listed author, and Saw-Wai Hla is a corresponding author; listed affiliations include Argonne National Laboratory and Ohio University. Read the Nature article.
How this differs from ordinary scanning-probe imaging
An STM can map a surface through the interaction between its tip and the sample, but that interaction alone should not be mistaken for a direct chemical fingerprint. Here, X-ray absorption supplied element- and chemical-state-sensitive information, while the nearby STM tip detected the resulting current at the atom’s location. It is the combination of X-rays and the specialized tunnelling-current detector—not simply scanning a sharp tip—that enabled the reported characterization.
What the result could enable—and what it has not established
The advance is a demonstration that elemental and chemical-state information can be measured from an individual atom using synchrotron X-rays. The authors present the method as a foundation for future experiments that could characterize elemental and chemical properties simultaneously at this scale. That is not the same as showing a routine instrument or established application for environmental monitoring, medicine, or other fields; those remain possible longer-term directions.
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The work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science and carried out at the Center for Nanoscale Materials and Advanced Photon Source, both DOE Office of Science user facilities. The published result establishes the broad measurement principle, but the methods and supplementary information are needed for apparatus settings and a full reproduction protocol.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why the “quantum needle” matters
The specialized tip turns a difficult measurement problem into a localized one: X-rays excite an atom, and an extremely close detector registers the atom-associated current. The experiment shows a way to bring X-ray spectroscopy down to a single-atom scale, where both elemental identity and chemical-state information become accessible. It is a measurement breakthrough, not a photograph in the everyday sense.
For secondary context, New Atlas coverage mirrored by Refractor reported on the result on 5 June 2023. The primary Nature paper remains the source for the measured edges and the experimental scope.
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