New method enables identification of different isotopes atom by atom Braga, Portugal — A international collaboration, including INL researchers – Jose Lado (ETH, Zurich), Alejandro Ferrón (CONYCET, Argentina) and Joaquín Rossier ( Theory of Quantum Nanostructures Group Leader at INL) –, have made a major scientific breakthrough by detecting the nuclear magnetism, or “nuclear spin” of a single atom. The experiments have been carried out by IBM Research at Almaden (California), in collaboration with the University of Oxford and QNS (Seoul). The researchers used advanced and novel techniques to measure the nuclear spin of individual atoms on surfaces for the first time. Normally the nuclear spin, which describes the magnetism of the atom’s core, can only be detected in very large numbers. The findings, published today in the journal Science, show that this is now also possible for single atoms on a surface. To do that the team used a Scanning Tunneling Microscope, which consists of an atomically sharp metal tip and allows researchers to image and probe single atoms. The two elements that were investigated in this work, iron and titanium, are atoms that can have a different number of neutrons in the atom’s core, these are the so-called … Continue reading Breakthrough in accessing the tiny magnet within the core of a single atom