New Electron Microscope Captures Real-Time 3D Photographs

A team of researchers at the Japan Science and Technology Agency have recently taken 3D imaging to another level. A much smaller level. What they’ve managed to do is develop an electron microscope that can show 3-dimensional photos of their tiny subjects in real-time. In the past, getting a 3D photo from an electron microscope meant superimposing two images taken at slightly different angles. But this new microscope allows the scientist to slant the electron beam and obtain both angles at the same time.

The resulting images are slightly lower in resolution, but the advantage of seeing their structure in 3 dimensions makes it a worthwhile tradeoff. And all this without the need for 3D glasses.