by
Gus Iversen, Editor in Chief | June 02, 2025
Leora Schein-Lubomirsky (L) and Dr. Amit Finkler in the lab.
A team at the Weizmann Institute of Science has developed an MR system capable of resolving structures down to one nanometer — about one-billionth of a meter.
The development marks a significant step toward visualizing individual atoms within a molecule, and could offer new capabilities in molecular imaging for research and industry.
The nano-MR device,
detailed in Communications Physics, uses a synthetic diamond embedded with a nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center — a defect at the atomic scale that acts as a highly sensitive magnetic field sensor.
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Standard clinical MR systems produce a magnetic field gradient of about 0.1 tesla per meter. The Weizmann team’s system, by contrast, achieves a gradient of 1,000 tesla per meter, allowing for vastly improved spatial resolution.
Although NV centers have been used in the past, they struggled to distinguish individual particles when surrounded by many others. The new system resolves this by integrating a miniaturized magnetic field generator capable of producing a sharply varying gradient at the atomic scale.
This gradient is generated by passing an electric current through a gold-coated quartz tip shaped like a square arch. According to the researchers, this produces magnetic field changes most strongly concentrated near the corners of the conductor. These spatial variations cause each nearby particle, such as a hydrogen atom, to exhibit a unique resonance frequency, enabling their positions within a molecule to be identified.
“The nano-MR we are proposing can operate at room temperature and examine the structure of materials under the conditions at which they are supposed to be used,” said doctoral researcher Leora Schein-Lubomirsky, who led the study.
The team, under the direction of Dr. Amit Finkler, also highlighted the ability of their device to switch the magnetic field on and off rapidly — within 0.6 microseconds, minimizing interference and enhancing image accuracy.
The technology could be used to analyze small material samples, aiding drug development, and materials testing where conventional methods fall short.
