Atomic flippers seek tiny ball for pinball fun

Two “flippers” made from pairs of platinum atoms are made to move back and forth by firing electrons at them. All that is missing is the ball, says Harold Zandvliet at the University of Twente in the Netherlands.

Despite the light-hearted description of work, the team says its device is an important advance in atomic-scale engineering.

“This pinball machine elegantly shows that even on the scale of a few atoms, a device can be constructed that only operates if an external signal is applied,” Zandvliet told New Scientist.