Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 14, 2026

Measuring the Influence of Magnetic Vestibular Stimulation on Nystagmus, Self-Motion Perception, and Cognitive Performance in a 7T MRT
Published on: March 3, 2023
Entanglement and sources of magnetic anisotropy in radical pair-based avian magnetoreceptors
Hannah J Hogben1, Till Biskup, P J Hore
1Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Physical & Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, Oxford OX1 3QZ, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
One of the principal models of magnetic sensing in migratory birds rests on the quantum spin dynamics of transient radical pairs created photochemically in ocular cryptochrome proteins. We consider here the role of electron spin entanglement and coherence in determining the sensitivity of a radical pair-based geomagnetic compass and the origins of the directional response. It emerges that the anisotropy of radical pairs formed from spin-polarized molecular triplets could form the basis of a more sensitive compass sensor than one founded on the conventional hyperfine-anisotropy model. This property offers new and more flexible opportunities for the design of biologically inspired magnetic compass sensors.
Related Concept Videos
Atomic Nuclei: Magnetic Resonance
Magnetic Fields
A magnetic field is defined by the force that a charged particle experiences...
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Relaxation Processes
Diamagnetism
Diamagnetism was discovered by Anton Brugmans in 1778 when he observed that bismuth gets repelled by magnetic fields, thus theorizing that diamagnets get repelled by magnets.
Paramagnetism
Potential Due to a Magnetized Object
The vector...

