Quantum-spin force reportedly moves a centimeter-scale levitated assembly

Controlling spins in a three-millimeter diamond

According to the report, researchers used laser-controlled electron spins at nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers—atomic defects in a 3-millimeter diamond—suspended from a graphite plate. A magnetic setup converted the spin effect into roughly 100 nanometers of motion in the levitated assembly.

The report says spin forces had previously been shown to nudge individual atoms; it does not provide a directly comparable displacement measurement for those earlier experiments.

The reported result extends a spin-driven mechanical response to a levitated graphite-and-diamond assembly about a centimeter across, weighing around 128 milligrams and displaced by about 100 nanometers.

The researchers describe the object as eight to nine orders of magnitude more massive than those in prior spin-mechanical experiments. The observed movement was classical, while the quantum spin effect was the trigger; the report does not establish that the larger object entered a quantum superposition.