The molecule of about 2 nm in size is kept stable between two metal electrodes for several days. Image: Christian Grupe/KIT
A team of physicists has succeeded in performing an extraordinary experiment: They demonstrated how magnetism that generally manifests itself by a force between two magnetized objects acts within a single molecule. This discovery is of high significance to fundamental research and provides scientists with a new tool to better understand magnetism as an elementary phenomenon of physics. The researchers published their results in the latest issue of Nature Nanotechnology.
The smallest unit of a magnet is the magnetic moment of a single atom or ion. Researchers in Germany wanted to find out whether the magnetism of a pair of magnetic moments can be measured electrically in a single molecule. To do this, they succeeded in performing an extraordinary experiment which shows how magnetism that generally manifests itself by a force between two magnetized objects acts within a single molecule.
