Andreas J. Heinrich is a physicist working with scanning tunneling microscopy, quantum technology, nanoscience, spin excitation spectroscopy, and precise atom manipulation. He worked for IBM Research in Almaden for 18 years, during which time he developed nanosecond scanning tunneling microscopy which provided an improvement in time resolution of 100,000 times,[1] and combined x-ray absorption spectroscopy with spin excitation spectroscopy.[2] In 2015 his team combined STM with electron spin resonance, which enables single-atom measurements on spins with nano-electronvolt precision REF1, REF2. In 2022 his team demonstrated the extension of ESR-STM to individual molecules REF3. Heinrich was also principal investigator of the stop-motion animated short film A Boy and His Atom filmed by moving thousands of individual atoms.[3] He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the recipient of the Heinrich Rohrer Medal (Grand Medal) of the Japan Society of Vacuum and Surface Science.
In 2016, he became a distinguished professor at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Republic of Korea and the founding director of the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) Center for Quantum Nanoscience. Groundbreaking for the research center's Research Cooperation Building occurred in 2018 and it was opened in 2019[4][5] during the IBS Conference on Quantum Nanoscience.[6]
The QNS building features some of the lowest vibration levels for STM labs in the world REF4. QNS is engineering the quantum future by investigating the scientific foundations of quantum-coherent systems at the nanoscale REF5 with a particular focus on spins on surfaces REF6.
Education
He received his Masters (Diplom) and PhD in physics in 1994 and 1998, respectively, from the University of Göttingen, Germany. He was a research assistant from 1994 to 1998 under supervision of R. G. Ulbrich. After obtaining a PhD, he was a postdoc at IBM Almaden with Kavli Prize laureate Don Eigler until 2001, in which Heinrich was hired as a researcher/engineer.
Career
Desiring to leave Göttingen and with a goal to work in IBM's Almaden Research Center, he received a scholarship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to finance his move. The German magazine Stern categorized Heinrich's move overseas as part of Germany's "brain drain".[7][8] After working in IBM Almaden for several years, he became a group leader on magnetic nanostructures on surfaces and scanning probe microscopy in 2005 where he worked until 2016. In 2012, he became a Fellow of the American Physics Society for the development of spin excitation spectroscopy and nanosecond STM. From 2012, he has been serving on the Scientific Advisory Board of Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart, Germany.[9]
While exploring the limits of data storage, his team made A Boy and His Atom; the World's Smallest Stop-Motion Film as recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records.[10] Their research showed that data storage could shrink from a standard of one million atoms, down to twelve.[11] Less than five years later, the team Heinrich was on reduced this number to a single atom.[12] The Korean Ministry of Science and ICT deemed this research result one of the most substantial domestic outcomes of that year.[13][14][15]
He moved to South Korea to become a distinguished professor at Ewha Womans University and director of the Institute for Basic Science Center for Quantum Nanoscience in 2016. One of the long-term goals for the center is to fully control the quantum states of molecules and atoms on clean surfaces and near interfaces which would enable the use of high-sensitivity quantum sensors.[16][17] Working in collaboration with IBM Almaden, they were able to perform MRI scans on individual atoms.[18][19]
Honors and awards
Robert Schlögl (left) and Andreas J. Heinrich (right) during the awarding of the 2023 Humboldt Prize in Germany.
^"Center for Quantum Nanoscience Groundbreaking Ceremony at Ewha Womans University". Institute for Basic Science. 25 April 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2018. The Center for Quantum Nanoscience at the Institute for Basic Science (Director Andreas Heinrich) will have a revolutionary new research space. The Research Collaboration Building (tentatively named) to be constructed by February 2019 at Ewha Womans University will be the new home of the Center.
^Moving Atoms: Making The World's Smallest Movie. IBM. 30 April 2013. Event occurs at 4:55. Retrieved 17 May 2018. very recently what we have done, is we've been interested in the magnetic properties of atoms on surfaces. And really what we wanted to answer is a very simple question, how small can you make a magnet and still use it for data storage? We know we can make it stably out of a million atoms because that's what's done with current technologies, and we found that, for the materials that we chose, and were able to work with, only twelve atoms is sufficient.
^"2018 Joseph F. Keithley Award for Advances in Measurement Science Recipient". American Physical Society. Retrieved 16 May 2018. for the design and construction of a series of highly sophisticated scanning probe instruments, including the development of inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy at the single atom and single spin limit, that provided many breakthroughs in the science of measurement.
^"The 3rd Heinrich Rohrer Medal". The Heinrich Rohrer Medal. The Japan Society of Vacuum and Surface Science. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
^"2018 Foresight Institute Feynman Prize". Foresight Institute. May 23, 2018. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2018. For advances in manipulating atoms and small molecules on surfaces and employing them for data storage and computation.
^"2018 Joseph F. Keithley Award for Advances in Measurement Science Recipient". American Physical Society. Retrieved 16 May 2018. for the design and construction of a series of highly sophisticated scanning probe instruments, including the development of inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy at the single atom and single spin limit, that provided many breakthroughs in the science of measurement.
