Amazing stuff! Could this be a breakthrough?
"... This technology employs a new method using a single molecule.
The molecule is attached to the tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope, allowing it to be brought to within nanometres of the object being observed.
“This quantum sensor is a game changer, because it provides images of materials as rich as an MRI and at the same time sets a new standard for spatial resolution in quantum sensors,” ..."
From the abstract:
"The detection of faint magnetic fields from single-electron and nuclear spins at the atomic scale is a long-standing challenge in physics. While current mobile quantum sensors achieve single-electron spin sensitivity, atomic spatial resolution remains elusive for existing techniques. Here we fabricate a single-molecule quantum sensor at the apex of the metallic tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope by attaching Fe atoms and a PTCDA (3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic-dianhydride) molecule to the tip apex. We address the molecular spin by electron spin resonance and achieve ~100 neV resolution in energy. In a proof-of-principle experiment, we measure the magnetic and electric dipole fields emanating from a single Fe atom and an Ag dimer on an Ag(111) surface with sub-angstrom spatial resolution. Our method enables atomic-scale quantum sensing experiments of electric and magnetic fields on conducting surfaces and may find applications in the sensing of spin-labelled biomolecules and of spin textures in quantum materials."
Quantensensor für die Welt der Atome (original news release, in German)
Fig. 1: A quantum sensor on the tip of an STM.
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