IBM controls the atom

IBM says the breakthrough could enable new materials and computing devices that use atom-sized magnetic phenomena, such as Quantum computers.

Andreas Heinrich, research staff member at IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, said that the technology had opened a window into the atomic heart of magnetism. He said that scientists can now position atoms and then measure and control their magnetic interactions within precisely designed structures.

The process, called spin-excitation spectroscopy, moves atoms into position and then measures the interactions between their atomic spins.

The boffins managed to create chains of up to ten manganese atoms atop an extremely thin electrically insulating surface. They then measured how the magnetic properties changed as each new atom was added.

They managed to work out that the chains with an even number of atoms had no net magnetism, while chains with an odd number of atoms showed magnetism.

This sub-atomic reality is the opposite of real life where the odder you are the less magnetic you are to others.

You can read all about it in this week's Science Express, or here. µ