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Updated: Oct 25, 2025

High Resolution Phonon-assisted Quasi-resonance Fluorescence Spectroscopy
Published on: June 28, 2016
Quantum stochastic resonance of individual Fe atoms
Max Hänze1,2, Gregory McMurtrie3, Susanne Baumann3
1University of Stuttgart, Institute for Functional Matter and Quantum Technologies, Stuttgart, Germany. sebastian.loth@fmq.uni-stuttgart.de max.haenze@fmq.uni-stuttgart.de.
Abstract:
Stochastic resonance, where noise synchronizes a system's response to an external drive, is a wide-reaching phenomenon found in noisy systems spanning from the dynamics of neurons to the periodicity of ice ages. Quantum tunneling can extend stochastic resonance to the quantum realm. We demonstrate quantum stochastic resonance for magnetic transitions in atoms by inelastic electron tunneling with a scanning tunneling microscope. Stochastic resonance is shown deep in the quantum regime, where spin-state fluctuations are driven by tunneling of the magnetization, and in a semiclassical crossover region, where thermally excited electrons drive transitions between ground and excited states. Inducing synchronization by periodically modulating transition rates provides a general mechanism to determine real-time spin dynamics ranging from milliseconds to picoseconds.
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