Professor and Racheff Faculty Scholar Pinshane Huang has achieved one of Physics World magazine's Top 10 Breakthroughs of the Year for 2025 for capturing the highest-resolution images ever taken of individual atoms. Using electron ptychography, Huang's team achieved an unprecedented resolution of 15 picometers and became the first to directly visualize moiré phasons—collective vibrations in twisted 2D materials that had only existed in theory.
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Professor and Racheff Faculty Scholar Pinshane Huang of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering has been recognized by Physics World as being responsible for one of the Top 10 Breakthroughs of the Year for 2025.
Huang, along with lead author Yichao Zhang, a former postdoctoral researcher in Huang's group and now an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, achieved a remarkable milestone in materials imaging by capturing the highest-resolution images ever taken of individual atoms. Using an advanced electron-microscopy technique called electron ptychography, the team reached an unprecedented resolution of 15 picometers — approximately 10 times smaller than the size of an atom itself.
Pictured: Professor and Racheff Faculty Scholar Pinshane Huang
The breakthrough research focused on twisted 2D materials, specifically a stack of two atomically-thin layers of tungsten diselenide rotated relative to each other to create what's known as a moiré superlattice. These materials have garnered significant attention in the physics community because their electronic properties can shift dramatically with even minor changes in rotation angle.
The exceptional resolution of their microscope enabled the team to directly visualize collective vibrations in the material called moiré phasons for the first time. These vibrations, similar to phonons, had only existed in theoretical predictions until this observation.
The breakthrough has significant implications for materials engineering. By better understanding the role that moiré phasons and other lattice vibrations play in solid-state physics, researchers can work toward designing new materials with tailored properties for future applications.
The overall Physics World Breakthrough of the Year winner will be announced on December 18, 2025.
Illinois Grainger Engineering Affiliations
Pinshane Y. Huang is an Illinois Grainger Engineering associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and serves as associate director of the Materials Research Laboratory. She holds a Racheff Faculty Scholar appointment.