Abstract: Atomic displacement on a material surface is detected by, in a system comprising the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and a material in question, upon an atomic displacement operation comprising extraction of atoms on the material surface and adsorption of atoms onto the material surface through application of a pulse voltage to the tip of STM, measuring a z-piezo voltage along the time series during and after application of the pulse voltage. Furthermore, heteroatoms dissociated by a reaction between the tip surface of STM and heteromolecules in a heteromolecular atmosphere are stored on the surface of the tip of STM, and then, heteroatoms are locally adsorbed onto the material surface by causing electro-evaporation of the heteroatoms through application of a prescribed scanning voltage to the tip of STM.