How can we rationally engineer atomic-scale spin systems that perform classical or quantum computation using only the spin degree of freedom? The first step along this road requires the ability to measure the behavior of spins at the single-atom and nanometer scale.
In this talk I will describe the development of Spin Excitation Spectroscopy, a tool set for measuring the energetics and dynamics of spins at the atomic scale with the Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM). By combining Spin Excitation Spectroscopy with the imaging and manipulation of abilities of the STM, we are beginning to engineer computational functionality into small spin systems.