Physicists from Germany and Korea have measured the magnetic and electric dipole fields emanating from a single iron atom and a silver dimer with sub-angstrom spatial resolution. To do this, they made a quantum single-molecule sensor and placed it on the metal tip of a scanning tunneling microscope. The article was published in the Natrue Nanotechnology magazine.
Detecting and measuring weak magnetic fields from one-electron and nuclear spins on the atomic scale is still a problem in physics. While modern mobile quantum sensors achieve single-electron spin sensitivity, atomic spatial resolution remains unattainable for existing methods.
A group of physicists led by Andreas J. Heinrich, Yujeong Bae, and Ruslan Temirov from the Institute of Fundamental Science in Seoul and the Peter Grünberg Institute in Ulysses measured the quantum field produced by a single. atoms To do this, scientists attached an iron atom and a molecule of PTCDA (3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarbon dianhydride) to the top of the metal tip of the scanning tunneling microscope. Applying radio frequency voltage to such a quantum sensor, physicists observed the emergence of electronic spin resonances that depend on the magnitude and direction of the magnetic field.
With the help of such a sensor, scientists were able to measure magnetic fields that arise around a single iron atom and a silver dimer located on a silver-111 (Ag111) substrate. Physicists managed to achieve an energy resolution of about 100 nanoelectron volts and a spatial resolution of about 0.02 nanometers.
Physicists are developing increasingly accurate methods of measuring and manipulating objects on the atomic scale. Earlier we wrote how scientists managed to adjust the magnetic field of an individual atom.