Atomic-resolution holography

Atomic-resolution holography with neutrons. To obtain a holographic image, one must record the interference of two coherent waves emitted by the same source. One wave must reach a detector directly while the other first scatters off of the object to be imaged. Holography using lasers has been familiar for decades, but better resolution has been achieved in recent years with electron and x-ray holography (see Physics Today, Physics Today 0031-9228 54 4 2001 21  https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1372102 April 2001, page 21 ). Neutrons, however, because they only interact with nuclei, may offer a more versatile alternative. Last year, a group led by Laszlo Cser of the Central Research Institute for Physics in Budapest, Hungary, proposed two ways to use neutrons for holography. Soon thereafter, a group in Canada realized one of those methods—the inside-source method—using hydrogen, a strong neutron scatterer, to act as a point source of neutron waves within a...