A Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientist and collaborators have demonstrated the first-ever “defect microscope” that can track how populations of defects deep inside macroscopic materials move collectively.

The research, which appeared last month in Science Advances, shows a classic example of a dislocation (line defect) boundary, then demonstrates how these same defects move exotically just at the edge of melting temperatures.

“This work presents a large step forward for materials science, physics, and related fields, as it offers a unique new way to view the ‘intermediate scales’ that connect microscopic defects to the bulk properties they cause,” says Leora Dresselhaus-Marais, a former Lawrence fellow and now assistant professor of materials science and engineering at Stanford University.

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