Measuring the smallest magnets: Physicists measure magnetic interactions between single electrons
Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - 09:02
in Physics & Chemistry
Imagine trying to measure a tennis ball that bounces wildly, every time to a distance a million times its own size. The bouncing obviously creates enormous "background noise" that interferes with the measurement. But if you attach the ball directly to a measuring device, so they bounce together, you can eliminate the noise problem. Physicists have used a similar trick to measure the interaction between the smallest possible magnets -- two single electrons -- after neutralizing magnetic noise that was a million times stronger than the signal they needed to detect.