Delft Researchers Control The Magnetic Core of a Single Atom

Insider Brief

• Delft University of Technology researchers controlled the nuclear spin of a single atom using radio-frequency signals, a finding that could inform methods for storing and reading quantum information.
• A refined double magnetic resonance technique allowed the team to address electron and nuclear spins independently and flip the nuclear spin even when the two were largely disentangled.
• The results, published in Nature Communications, challenge the researchers’ understanding of nuclear spin control, with the mechanism driving the response still unresolved.

PRESS RELEASE — Researchers at Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands) have succeeded in controlling the magnetism in the nucleus of a single atom with radio waves. This came as a surprise: until now, physicists believed that this nuclear spin could not be manipulated directly. The discovery could open up new possibilities for storing and reading quantum information. The research is published in the journal Nature Communications.

In metals such as iron and nickel, every atom is slightly magnetic. But inside the atom, different magnetic “compass needles”, known in quantum mechanics as spins, are also at work. “By far the strongest magnetism comes from the electrons,” says lead researcher Sander Otte. “But in some atoms, the nucleus also carries a spin. That spin is much weaker, but it is also much better shielded from the outside world.”