More than 2,000 years ago, philosophers in ancient Greece believed that matter is made up of atoms – a fact that was proven only 35 years ago when a research group in Zurich actually observed atoms for the first time. They used a scanning tunnelling microscope that allows surfaces of materials to be investigated with a spatial resolution of less than one nanometre – enough to see individual atoms.
Zurich is once again in the atomic headlines after a team of researchers at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich have now succeeded in measuring the magnetization of the atoms of a material. An interesting feature of the Zurich technology is that it shouldn’t even be possible according to the rules of quantum physics.
“In research one mustn’t be afraid of trying the impossible once in a while,” the researchers said in a statement.
Their courage has now been rewarded, and their discovery could lead to several applications. For instance, it could open the door to studying the magnetic properties of materials in real time with a resolution of a trillionth of a second. It could also be used for developing novel methods in information processing.
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