MIT physicists just found a way to see inside atoms

MIT physicists just found a way to see inside atoms

MIT researchers have devised a new molecular technique that lets electrons probe inside atomic nuclei, replacing massive particle accelerators with a tabletop setup. By studying radium monofluoride, they detected energy shifts showing electrons interacting within the nucleus. This breakthrough could help reveal why matter dominates over antimatter in the universe.

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Effect never observed in a molecule could help adjudicate between competing models of nuclear structure

With a new molecule-based method, physicists peer inside an atom's nucleus

Boston MA (SPX) Oct 27, 2025 Physicists at MIT have developed a new way to probe inside an atom's nucleus, using the atom's own electrons as "messengers" within a molecule. In a study appearing in the journal Science, the physicists precisely measured the energy of electrons whizzing around a radium atom that had been paired with a fluoride atom to make a molecule of radium monofluoride. They used the environments wit

MIT Physicists Discover a Way to See Inside Atoms Using Tabletop Molecular Technique

MIT physicists have developed a molecular technique using radium monofluoride that lets electrons probe inside atomic nuclei, replacing particle accelerators and offering new insight into matter–antimatter asymmetry.

With a new molecule-based method, physicists peer inside an atom’s nucleus

Physicists at MIT have developed a new way to probe inside an atom’s nucleus, using the atom’s own electrons as “messengers” within a molecule. In a study appearing today in the journal Science, the physicists precisely measured the energy of electrons whizzing around a radium atom that had been paired with a fluoride atom to make a molecule of radium monofluoride. They used the environments within molecules as a sort of microscopic particle col…