In the ultrahigh vacuum of a scanning tunneling microscope, a hydrogen molecule is held between the silver tip and sample. Femtosecond bursts of a terahertz laser excite the molecule, turning it into a quantum sensor. Credit: Wilson Ho Lab, UCI
New technique enables precise measurement of electrostatic properties of materials.
Physicists at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) have demonstrated the use of a hydrogen molecule as a quantum sensor in a terahertz laser-equipped scanning tunneling microscope, a technique that can measure the chemical properties of materials at unprecedented time and spatial resolutions.
This novel technique can also be applied to the analysis of two-dimensional materials which have the potential to play a role in advanced energy systems, electronics, and quantum computers.
On April 21, 2022, in the journal Science, the researchers in UCI’s…