Full List of Laukien Prize Recipients

Awarded to
Daniel Rugar, John Mamin, and John Sidle
for MRFM

The Günther Laukien Prize 2011 is awarded to Daniel Rugar, H. Jonathan Mamin, both of the IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose CA, and to John A. Sidles of the University of Washington, Seattle, Department of Orthopaedics, School of Medicine, for their conception, implementation, and application of Magnetic Resonance Force Microscopy (MRFM).

The project to be honored with the Laukien Prize started already in 1991 by the fortuitous collaboration of three research groups with very different backgrounds: The group of D. Rugar and J. Mamin brought many years experience in force microscopy applied to magnetic materials (1,2). C.S. Yannoni is a brilliant NMR spectroscopist with decades of experience; and J.A. Sidles contributed a lot of pioneering spirit, paired with an in-depth understanding of the physics behind, and with a clear goal in mind: to detect single magnetic spins (3,4). Indeed, J.A. Sidles can be called the spiritual father of the project. This led then to a series of papers, progressively replacing wishful thinking by experimental facts (5-17). The experimental facts were contributed by D. Rugar and H.J. Mamin and their IBM-based research group. A lot of nano-mechanical ingenuity was needed for enhancing the initially hopelessly weak signals. The cantilever design was crucial.

A first great success in 2004 was the detection of a single electron spin in silicon dioxide by EPR force microscopy (12). More recently, the first NMR images of nano-sized objects were published. A detailed image of an individual tobacco mosaic virus by proton magnetic resonance caught particular attention (15). The vastly improved volume resolution opens now nearly unlimited possibilities for studying nano-objects by magnetic resonance techniques. The experiments are still quite difficult today; and further progress is needed to satisfy all requirements of cellular biology. As usual in NMR, the performance is limited by the lack of adequate sensitivity. But the ingenuity of NMR spectroscopists has invariably discovered pathways for solving or circumventing the problems.

An exciting aspect of NMR in the nano and sub-nano domain is the breaking down of rules derived for infinitely large statistical ensembles, leading to “Boltzmann polarization”. In this domain, the size-limitation of the voxels and the resulting “statistical polarization” become dominating aspects. Some papers from the group of Rugar and Mamin have brought further insight into this question of experimental and theoretical importance (11, 17).

Many additional brilliant scientists have contributed to this outstanding endeavor. At the beginning, it was in particular C.S. Yannoni (5,8-10) who brought in invaluable NMR knowledge. In the past few years, C.L. Degen had a significant impact (13-15), together with numerous other scientists whose great contributions are acknowledged without mentioning their names.

Selected References
1. H.J. Mamin, D. Rugar, J.E. Stern, B.D. Terris, and S.E. Lambert, Appl. Phys. Lett. 53, 1563 (1988): “Force-Microscopy of Magnetization Patterns in Longitudinal Recording Media”.

2. H.J. Mamin, D. Rugar, J.E.Stern, R. Fontana, and P. Kasiraj, Appl. Phys. Lett. 55, 318 (1989): “Magnetic Force Microscopy of thin Permaloy Films”.

3. J.A. Sidles, Appl. Phys. Lett. 58, 854-6 (1991): “Noninductive Detection of Single-Proton Magnetic Resonance”.

4. J.A. Sidles, Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 124-7 (1991): “Folded Stern-Gerlach Experiment for Detecting Nuclear Magnetic Resonance in Individual Nuclei”.

5. D. Rugar, C.S. Yannoni, J.A. Sidles, Nature 360, 563-6 (1992): “Mechanical Detection of Magnetic Resonance”.

6. J.A. Sidles and D. Rugar, Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 3506-9 (1993): “Signal-to-Noise Ratios in Inductive and Detection of Magnetic Resonance”.

7. O. Zueger and D. Rugar, Appl. Phys. Lett. 63, 2496-8 (1993): “First Images from a Magnetic Resonance Force Microscope”.

8. D. Rugar, O. Zueger, S. Hoen, C.S.Yannoni, H.-M.Viet, and R. Kendrick, Science 264, 1560-3 (1994): “Force Detection of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance”.

9. J.A. Sidles, J.L.Garbini, K.J. Bruland, D. Rugar, O. Zueger, S. Hoen, and C.S. Yannoni, Rev. Mod. Phys. 67, 249-265 (1995): “Magnetic Resonance Force Microscopy”.

10. K. Wago, D. Botkin, O. Zueger, R. Kendrick, C.S. Yannoni, and D. Rugar, Phys. Rev. B57, 1108-14 (1998): „Force-detected Electron Spin Resonance: Adiabatic Inversion, Nutation and Spin Echo”.

11. H.J. Mamin, R. Budakian, B. Chui, and D. Rugar, Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 207604 (2003): “Detection and Manipulation of Statistical Polarization in Small Spin Ensembles”.

12. D. Rugar, R. Budakian, H.J. Mamin, and B.W. Chui, Nature 430, 329-332 (2004): Single Spin Detection by Magnetic Resonance Force Microscopy”.

13. C.L. Degen, M. Poggio, H.J. Mamin, and D. Rugar, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 250601 (2007): “Role of Spin Noise in the Detection of Nanoscale Ensembles of Nuclear Spins”.

14. C.L. Degen, M. Poggio, H.J. Mamin, and D. Rugar, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 137601 (2008): “Nuclear Spin Relaxation Induced by a Mechanical Resonator”.

15. C.L. Degen, M. Poggio, H.J. Mamin, C.T. Rettner, and D. Rugar, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 106, 1313-1317 (2009): “Nanoscale Magnetic Resonance Imaging”.

16. J.A. Sidles, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 106, 2477-2478 (2009): “Spin Microscopy’s Heritage, Achievements and Prospects”, Commenary.

17. M. Poggio, H.J. Mamin, C.L. Degen, M.H. Sherwood, and D. Rugar, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 087604 (2009): “Nuclear Double Resonance between Statistical Spin Polarizations”.