Latest Finding

Using the recently discovered Pt nanowires, PNE has demonstrated the feasibility of controlling an atomic scale mechanical device by an external electrical signal. On a germanium substrate, a switching motion of pairs of atoms is induced by electrons that are directly injected into the atoms with a Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) tip. By precisely controlling the tip current and distance we make two atom pairs behave like the flippers of an atomic sized pinball machine. This atomic scale mechanical device exhibits six different configurations and the atom motion is exclusively tip-induced. Our latest finding will be published in nanoletters and has received widespread media attention, amongst others in New Scientist, NanoWerk, the Royal Society of Chemistry news service, Nanotechnology Now and Nano Today.