DIFFUSION OF INDIVIDUAL ADATOMS

E.W. Muller's invention of the field ion microscope in the 1950s for the first time made it possible to see single metal atoms adsorbed on crystals, and in the 60s this lead to diffusion studies on individual adatoms. The background and beginning of experiments probing the motion of single adatoms is sketched briefly, as are some of the significant developments in this field that have taken place over the last three decades and have provided quite a detailed picture of atomic behavior.