Physicists have moved a macroscopic sample of diamond using only the force from the sample’s own electron spins. This achievement, which shows that a small quantum effect can produce a large classical response, could herald a new class of sensors that are precise enough to probe the nature of gravity and test the boundaries of quantum mechanics.
“There is a lot of interest in this spin force because the force it exerts can be a quantum force,” explains physicist Jason Twamley, who led the research at Japan’s Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST). “I think it’s amazing that tiny spins can exert so much force and displace a macroscopic object that weighs so much.”
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