Introduction

• Everyday applications of tunneling, spin, and matter waves
• Medical imaging from X-rays to MRI
• The microscope reinvented, again and again
• The production of molecular movies

Throughout this book, we’ve paid many a visit to the so-called “quantum realm,” where particles smaller than a speck of dust begin to demonstrate all the lovely features that we have studied so far. It should be no surprise, then, that one of the most successful applications of quantum physics has been to the imaging of micro- and nano-structures.

We will continue our survey of quantum applications and turn our focus to imaging techniques, new and old. We will see how quantum spin has helped to diagnose and cure diseases. We’ll see the benefits that matter waves provide to microscopy relative to plain old light. We’ll also discover a few technologies that employ quantum tunneling, including a life-saving application you’d probably not expect.

Finally we’ll explore how advanced light sources, including the X-ray laser, are paving the way toward “filming” some of the world’s smallest organisms.