Stepan Kovarik is a junior researcher focusing on the investigation of quantum systems at the atomic scale by means of electron spin resonance (ESR) combined with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM).

Stepan received his bachelor's and master's degree in Physical Engineering and Nanotechnology from Brno University of Technology, where he researched self-assembly of organic molecules on graphene substrate using a range of techniques including STM, low-energy electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. As a visiting master's student in the group of Prof. Roland Wiesendanger in Hamburg, he studied complex magnetic textures in magnetic multilayers with low-temperature spin-polarized STM.

During his PhD studies at ETH Zurich in the group of Prof. Pietro Gambardella, Stepan contributed to the development of the state-of-the-art ESR-STM experimental setup and investigated magnetic resonance of single atomic and molecular adsorbates on ultrathin insulators.

In 2024, Stepan joined Dr. Yujeong Bae's group in the nanotech@surfaces Laboratory to study the coherent dynamics of single spins in molecular systems.

S. Kovarik, R. Robles, R. Schlitz, T. S. Seifert, N. Lorente, P. Gambardella, S. Stepanow, Electron Paramagnetic Resonance of Alkali Metal Atoms and Dimers on Ultrathin MgO, Nano Lett. 22, 4176–4181 (2022). DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.2c00980

T. S. Seifert, S. Kovarik, C. Nistor, L. Persichetti, S. Stepanow, P. Gambardella, Single-atom electron paramagnetic resonance in a scanning tunneling microscope driven by a radio-frequency antenna at 4 K, Phys. Rev. Research 2, 013032 (2020). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.013032