Radio waves flip the nuclear spin of a single atom in quantum experiment

Researchers at Delft University of Technology used a modified scanning tunneling microscope to flip the nuclear spin of a single atom with radio signals, even when it was largely disentangled from the electron spin. The result, published in Nature Communications, challenges assumptions about how nuclei respond to electrical signals and could aid quantum information storage.

• Experiment ran on a scanning tunneling microscope at Delft
• Nuclear spin flipped while largely decoupled from the electron spin
• Nuclear transition frequencies are 100–1,000 times lower than electronic ones
• Findings published in Nature Communications