Visualizing the invisible nanoworld: ICT-enhanced reflection of imaging and images of atoms in nanoscience

New tools for visualizing and manipulating systems down to the level of individual atoms play a decisive role in the advancement of nanoscience and assign a prominent role to images as a means of communication. However, making nanoworld imagery tangible to students or to the public is a challenge, because photo-realistic views interfere with adequate conceptual interpretations. The article focuses on scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). In order to develop a critical epistemology towards STM images, an acoustic analogy is presented using sound waves as probes to map arrays of acoustical resonators. Starting from hands-on experiments, ICT-tools are used to create an augmented reality that transforms sound fields into visual representations. The acoustic near field imaging is fully transparent and classicalquantum analogies establish a correspondence with tunneling spectroscopy. A thorough reflection of the imaging process helps to counteract naive misinterpretations of nano-visualizations. Moreover, the acoustic model stimulates new insights by elucidating the power of near field scanning microscopy to resolve structures much smaller than the wavelength.