Researchers in Germany and the United States this spring captured the first images of so-called atomic spin utilizing a scanning tunneling microscope. The telescope had an iron-coated tip to manipulate cobalt atoms on a plate of manganese. The experiment was conducted in a vaccuum at 10 Kelvin thanks to liquid helium. Results of the experiment were published in April in
Nature Nanotechnology.
This progress may influence future magnetic data storage. Saw-Wah Hla, a physics professor on the team, says, "“Different directions in spin can mean different states for data storage.... The memory devices of current computers involve tens of thousands of atoms. In the future, we may be able to use one atom and change the power of the computer by the thousands.”
Quantum mechanics is strange. Probably the field's proposition that is most well-known by the general public is the dual (particle and wave) characteristic of both light
and matter. How this experiment influences or confirms the theory long-term remains to be seen.
More Information:
Discover, September 2010, p. 18.
http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/v5/n5/abs/nnano.2010.64.html#a1http://www.ohio.edu/research/communications/spin.cfmAbout Saw-Wah Hla:
http://www.ounqpi.org/saw-wai-hla
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