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Learn more: PMC Disclaimer | PMC Copyright Notice Fundam Res . 2025 Dec 22;6(2):827–833. doi: 10.1016/j.fmre.2025.12.007 Search in PMC Search in PubMed View in NLM Catalog Add to search Microscopic magnetic-field imaging of a single lunar dust grain Yibo Yang Yibo Yang a Laboratory of Experimental Physical Biology, Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China Find articles by Yibo Yang a, 1 , Lin Xing Lin Xing c Key Laboratory of Deep Petroleum Intelligent Exploration and Development, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China d College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China Find articles by Lin Xing c, d, 1 , Zengrong Zhou Zengrong Zhou a Laboratory of Experimental Physical Biology, Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China Find articles by Zengrong Zhou a , Yunze Zhou Yunze Zhou a Laboratory of Experimental Physical Biology, Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China Find articles by Yunze Zhou a , Kelei Zhu Kelei Zhu c Key Laboratory of Deep Petroleum Intelligent Exploration and Development, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China d College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China Find articles by Kelei Zhu c, d , Shiyang Lyu Shiyang Lyu a Laboratory of Experimental Physical Biology, Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China Find articles by Shiyang Lyu a , Yuqin Wang Yuqin Wang c Key Laboratory of Deep Petroleum Intelligent Exploration and Development, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China d College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China Find articles by Yuqin Wang c, d , Xu Tang Xu Tang c Key Laboratory of Deep Petroleum Intelligent Exploration and Development, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China d College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China Find articles by Xu Tang c, d , Jinhua Li Jinhua Li c Key Laboratory of Deep Petroleum Intelligent Exploration and Development, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China d College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China Find articles by Jinhua Li c, d, ⁎ , Jiandong Feng Jiandong Feng a Laboratory of Experimental Physical Biology, Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China b Institute of Fundamental and Transdisciplinary Research, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China Find articles by Jiandong Feng a, b, ⁎ Author information Article notes Copyright and License information a Laboratory of Experimental Physical Biology, Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China b Institute of Fundamental and Transdisciplinary Research, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China c Key Laboratory of Deep Petroleum Intelligent Exploration and Development, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China d College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China ⁎ Corresponding authors. [email protected] [email protected] 1 These authors contributed equally to this work. Received 2025 Nov 13; Revised 2025 Dec 7; Accepted 2025 Dec 10; Collection date 2026 Mar. © 2025 The Authors. Publishing Services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). PMC Copyright notice PMCID: PMC13069859 PMID: 41971810 Abstract The origin of lunar magnetic anomalies—whether remnants of an ancient core dynamo or impact-induced magnetizations—remains debated due to a critical observational gap linking microscopic magnetic carriers to macroscopic orbital measurements. Conventional measurements lack sufficient spatial resolution or vector information at the sub-particle scales, obscuring the detailed micromagnetic signatures of formative geological events. Here, we report the first microscopic magnetic imaging (MMI) of individual lunar dust grain returned by the Chang’e-5 mission using a custom-designed quantum-sensing-based high-resolution microscopy, which simultaneously satisfies optimized sensitivity at 2.09–3.39 µT·Hz −1/2 , spatial resolution of 2.2 µm and field of view at 1 × 1 mm 2 . Leveraging this, we precisely resolve magnetic field distributions with individual carriers, revealing magnetization processes linked to potential geological events at the sub-particle level. Preliminary quantitative magnetic analyses across these heterogeneous rock types further elucidate the possible historical events occurring at the task sampling site. Our approach enables imaging-based analysis of the magnetism of a single lunar dust grain and offers direct magnetism insights into the historical events from a microscopic perspective. Keywords: Lunar soil, Microscopy, Magnetic imaging, Quantum sensing, NV center Graphical abstract Open in a new tab 1. Introduction Deciphering the Moon’s magnetism history, essential for understanding its extinct dynamo, impact chronology, and crustal evolution, hinges critically on resolving the enigmatic lunar magnetic anomalies [ 1 , 2 ]. These large-scale anomalies indicate past lunar magnetic fields stemming from either an ancient dynamo or localized impact-induced fields, a question still unresolved [ [3] , [4] , [5] , [6] , [7] , [8] ]. Key insights can be obtained by investigating the magnetic record preserved in lunar soils [ 9 , 10 ]. However, understanding the spatial distribution and specific mineral origins of the lunar magnetism has been impeded by limitations in spatial resolution and sensitivity of conventional magnetic measurements. The orbiter magnetometers were dedicated to revealing the distribution and origin of magnetic anomalies in the lunar crust on a global scale. It provided volume-averaged, spatially-integrated and distance-scaled measurements, making it difficult to resolve the origin of materials-carrying magnetism [ 11 , 12 ] ( Fig. 1 a). Particularly, it spatially smears signals across kilometers while decaying to ∼nT sensitivity, rendering them blind to microscale magnetic structures. Benefiting from the samples returned by Apollo [ 7 , 13 , 14 ], Luna [ 14 , 15 ], and Chang’e missions [ [16] , [17] , [18] , [19] ], laboratory analysis has greatly pushed the scale of magnetic measurement. Recently, by analyzing the entire particles returned from Chang’e missions, the vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) [ [18] , [19] , [20] ] has been leveraged to obtain magnetic moment and magnetization strength information, which established a direct link between the rock magnetism and the lunar paleomagnetic field. Li et al. also provided a detailed rock magnetic characterization of lunar soils at the bulk-sample level [ 21 ]. Nevertheless, this averaged information still obscured the carrier-specific mineral features at the micro- and nanoscale, making it challenging to obtain the microscopic magnetization mechanisms of magnetic minerals. Although mapping magnetometers such as magnetic force microscopy (MFM) and magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) [ 22 , 23 ] were capable of resolving ferromagnetic carriers at the submillimeter scale, they still lacked robust quantitative measurement capabilities and typically involved complex, potentially destructive sample preparation. Hence, to overcome the long-standing observational gaps between the orbital and the sample-based measurement [ 18 ], a methodology capable of exceeding the resolution limit is critically needed (Extended Data Fig. 1 and Supplementary Materials 1). Fig. 1. Open in a new tab Resolving lunar soil magnetism at the microscopic scale. (a) Schematic of various conventional techniques for resolving lunar magnetic signals at different scales (from top to bottom: orbital magnetometer, moon lander and VSM magnetometer). (b) Configuration of MMI platform. The lunar soil sample was placed on the diamond sensor. During the experiment, the microwave was delivered through waveguide and radiated to NV centers. A 532 nm laser was used to excite diamond for initializing NV centers and the generated fluorescence was delivered to sCMOS camera. Quantum diamond microscopy that uses nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers [ [24] , [25] , [26] ] has been recently used to perform magnetic imaging of terrestrial [ 27 , 28 ] or meteoritic [ 29 ] samples, with spatial resolution of ∼5 µm and sensitivity at ∼20 µT·Hz −1/2 . In this work, we establish a self-developed microscopic magnetic imaging (MMI) platform using NV centers providing better spatial resolution (2.2 µm), enhanced sensitivity (∼2.09–3.39 µT·Hz −1/2 ), and vector field reconstruction. Building on the strength of technique improvement, here we present the first magnetic imaging of a single lunar dust grain, with samples returned from the Chang’e-5 mission, pinpointing the intraparticle magnetic signals correlated with structural features of the lunar samples. Through this, our observations provided microscopic insights into distinct magnetic signatures suggestive of two possible magnetization pathways driven by lunar impact events, promising to bridge the macroscopic geological context with microscopic magnetization mechanisms. 2. Methods Lunar samples used in this study (CE5-053 and CE5-054) were collected by the Chang’e Lunar Exploration Project. All microscopic magnetic imaging experiments were conducted at the Laboratory of Experimental Physical Biology (LEPB), Zhejiang University, China. Scanning electron microscopy, 3D X-ray microscopy and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy were conducted at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGGCAS), China. 2.1. Microscopic magnetic imaging Before the image acquisition, the lunar soil sample was positioned on the piezo stage, directly above the diamond sensor. The focal plane was set close to the interface of the diamond and the soil sample to optimize the detection sensitivity. Moreover, the piezo stage was controlled to move the targeted particle into the field of view (FOV). 2.2. Image acquisition During the experiment, the power density of the laser that passed through the objective was maintained at 2.26 mW/mm 2 . The power of the microwave from the generator was optimized to −20 dBm to ensure the precise quantum state control of NV spins while avoiding affecting the lunar soil sample. The image acquisition was conducted at a framerate of 200 fps to satisfy both signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the acquisition speed. 2.3. Data processing The bright field image and the fluorescence image stacks of each area were recorded sequentially. To realize the MMI of a single lunar soil particle with a large FOV, a field-stitching strategy was employed, which segments the image into several parts for acquisition. In this process, the piezo stage was programmatically controlled to ensure that no gaps exist between the neighboring images. Afterwards, these individual images, together with their coordination information, were organized through algorithms to obtain the entire particle’s image stacks. Ultimately, the stitched image stacks were high-throughput processed through the self-developed algorithm to realize curve-fitting, image denoising and dipole distinction, which achieved the final MMI result of the whole particle. 2.4. Scanning electron microscopy Individual lunar soil particles were embedded in resin mounts, polished, and coated with a ∼10 nm carbon layer to ensure surface conductivity for microscopic analysis. SEM was performed using a Zeiss CrossBeam 550 system equipped with an Oxford Instruments EDXS detector. BSE imaging and elemental maps were conducted at accelerating voltages of 10–15 kV with beam currents maintained at 1.0–2.0 nA. High-resolution BSE mosaics of each particle were acquired using Atlas 5 software (v5.3) with a pixel size of ∼15 nm. 2.5. 3D X-ray microscopy Three-dimensional image data of basalt and breccia particles were acquired using a ZEISS Xradia 610 Versa 3D XRM. Full-particle scans were conducted with a 4X objective lens at a tube voltage of 70 kV and power of 8 W, achieving approximately 1 µm resolution. For targeted high-resolution imaging of iron-nickel alloy minerals in breccia sample 053-007, a 20X objective lens was utilized with a tube voltage of 80 kV and power of 10 W, achieving an enhanced resolution of ∼500 nm. Three-dimensional reconstruction and data analysis were carried out using Object Research Systems (ORS) Dragonfly Pro software (v. 2024.1). 2.6. Micro-X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy Individual basalt particles embedded in resin mounts underwent elemental maps using a Bruker M4 Tornado PLUS spectrometer (Bruker Nano GmbH, Berlin, Germany) equipped with a polycapillary optic system. The µXRF was operated at an X-Ray tube energy of 50 kV and 600 µA current, with a pixel size of 4 µm and a dwell time of 30 ms per pixel. 3. Results 3.1. Single-particle MMI Our MMI platform is equipped with a custom-designed NV wide-field microscope to achieve high-resolution magnetic imaging of individual lunar soil particles through an optimized workflow ( Figs. 1 b, 2 a). This platform features high-speed image acquisition (∼200 frames/s) via a sCMOS camera, enabling rapid large-area stitching (114 areas, 1 × 1 mm 2 field of view in 4 min). For NV-based quantum sensing, its spatial resolution and magnetic sensitivity are mutually constrained, as a smaller pixel size implies weaker fluorescence collection per pixel, making it challenging to enhance both metrics simultaneously. Benefiting from our customized setup, we used a specialized diamond sensor (with NV concentration of 10 PPM, located at a depth of 5–30 nm below the surface). This ensures that the distance between the NV and the magnetic source is sufficiently close (< 300 nm), thereby significantly enhancing magnetic detection sensitivity. Moreover, this diamond sensor with high NV density is coupled with our optical system through a high numerical aperture (NA = 1.42) objective, enabling highly efficient fluorescence collection. Based on these enhancements, compared with the commercial quantum diamond microscope [ 27 ], our MMI platform achieved a smaller pixel size at 110 nm (20 times better), an increased magnetic spatial resolution at 2.2 µm (twofold improvement), and an enhanced magnetic sensitivity at 2.09–3.39 µT/Hz 1/2 (tenfold improvement) (Extended Data Fig. 2, Supplementary Materials 2–4. By implementing optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) sequences, we directly captured NV’s fluorescence change reflecting its coupling with nearby magnetic carriers ( Fig. 2 b and Supplementary Materials 5). Crucially, we developed dual imaging modules—one detected the projected magnetic moment for rapid magnetic region identification within whole particles (Supplementary Materials 6), while the other provided accurate vector magnetic field reconstruction of the target region. Our platform also realized real-time magnetic field visualization via multi-threaded parallel processing ( Fig. 2 a and Extended Data Fig. 3). This configuration facilitates the spatial resolution and the quantitative accuracy of the methodology, ensuring that magnetic signal projection onto the NV centers accurately reflects the field strength and the source location ( Fig. 2 c and Supplementary Materials 7). Fig. 2. Open in a new tab Magnetic field imaging of single lunar soil particles. (a) Workflow for NV-based microscopic magnetic imaging. (b) Diagram of NV center electron energy level and its coupling with the external magnetic field generated by magnetic carrier within lunar soil. (c) Schematic of MMI detecting magnetic projection for reconstruction. (d) Overlapped MMI and BSE-SEM image of a basalt clast (CE5-053-005). (e–f) Zoomed MMI of region 1 and 2 in (d). (g) SEM-EDXS spectrum of sites 1–2 in (e–f). The correlated XRF elemental maps of (h) Fe, (i) S, (j) Ti, and (k) Ni in the same basalt clast (d). We first applied MMI to a basalt sample collected by the Chang’e-5 mission from Oceanus Procellarum (43.06°N, 51.92°W) ( Fig. 2 d, Extended Data Fig. 4 and Supplementary Materials 8). Previous studies indicated that lunar basalt clasts generally exhibit weak magnetic signals, primarily arising from the low abundance of metal grains, most likely nanophase iron (np-Fe) [ 19 ]. The formation of these phases is likely facilitated by the Moon’s intrinsically low oxygen fugacity environment, which promotes crystallization of native iron through magmatic differentiation processes [ 30 ]. However, it was a stringent test to spatially localize these signal sources, which facilitated the identification of the main ferromagnetic carrier phases. Here, we demonstrated quantitative MMI, which clearly revealed the heterogeneous magnetic field distributions within the individual particle. Complementary to the traditional electron microscopy-based techniques, which typically identify magnetic minerals directly through elemental map or phase analysis, our approach leveraged intuitive magnetic field distributions to directly guide subsequent investigations aimed at pinpointing the magnetic sources. Based on this magnetic map, we then performed correlative backscattered scanning electron scanning electron microscopy (BSE-SEM) and micro-X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (µ-XRF) on the same region, seeking to identify the potential magnetic carriers. The SEM result demonstrated virtually no surface iron metal grains, nor other transition metals, which were typical magnetic carriers embedded in basalt. We found a spatial correlation between the distribution of magnetic signals and (i) the troilite typically embedded between pyroxene and plagioclase grains, ranging from nanometer to submicron scales ( Fig. 2 e–g and Extended Data Fig. 5), (ii) the Fe-bearing phase distinct from sulfur and titanium distributions in µ-XRF image ( Fig. 2 h–k and Extended Data Fig. 6 and Supplementary Materials 9). This result aligns with the previous finding revealing iron particles as magnetic carriers coexisting with troilite in lunar soil samples [ 19 , 21 ], possibly via the exsolution pathway from mafic silicates or the thermal decomposition of troilite [ [31] , [32] , [33] , [34] ]. Interestingly, since troilite exhibited paramagnetic properties at room temperature and SEM did not isolate iron metal particles with high certainty, these discoveries relied on destructive means of exposing the structural profiles, and it was quite difficult to spatially correlate the localized sporadic data with overall magnetism. As a complementary finding, our MMI result provided non-destructive insights into the magnetization on basalt clasts, supporting the existence of additional magnetically responsive minerals beneath the surface or embedded within troilite ( Fig. 2 e–g and Extended Data Fig. 6). 3.2. MMI correlated with characteristic structures in lunar soil Next, to establish MMI’s performance benchmarks for rock magnetometry and to gain structure-event insights into lunar soil’s magnetism, we performed the correlative structure-magnetism measurements on a breccia (CE5-054-005, Extended Data Fig. 4). Breccias are formed by meteorite impacts on the lunar surface, causing bedrock melting and subsequent mixing of mineral fragments and lithic clasts [ 30 ]. When ferromagnetic minerals are present, these melts and the adjacent clasts record the Moon’s paleomagnetic field during cooling, resulting in thermoremanent magnetization (TRM). Thus, accurately quantifying and mapping remanent magnetization intensity in lunar breccias, combined with detailed morphological observations, can elucidate major extraterrestrial impact events linked to magnetic anomalies. Critically, sub-particle scale investigations provide access to previously obscured multi-event histories that may be encoded within single particles. Guided by high-resolution magnetic maps, we identified four strongly magnetized regions (∼50 × 50 µm 2 ) in CE5-054-005 for compositional analysis using SEM-based energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS). Capitalizing on MMI’s sensitivity, we spatially resolved individual magnetic dipole features, which revealed the precise localization of the magnetic carriers. According to the SEM-EDXS result, we found that magnetization is spatially associated with an iron-rich region, interpreted to be iron metal particles with minimal Ni content (< 5 wt%) distributed across the breccia ( Fig. 3 a–g and Extended Data Fig. 7–8). These particles originate from either reduction reactions induced by iron-rich meteorite impacts [ 35 ] or space weathering processes [ 36 ], making them an important magnetic source for lunar soil’s magnetism. The correlation between magnetic signals and mineral characteristics suggests that a remanence acquired during the impact process likely recorded the lunar paleomagnetic field in this region. Furthermore, we observed a continuous magnetic ‘stripe’ precisely coinciding with the structural cracks seen in BSE-SEM images ( Fig. 3 a,b). This distribution pattern was rarely observed in samples, differing from the previous distinct magnetically-loaded minerals. We proposed that these cracks may be enriched with varying oxidation states np-Fe or ferromagnetic minerals [ 37 ], potentially formed during complex impact events and enriched in specific locations within the cracks [ 13 , 38 ]. Fig. 3. Open in a new tab Magnetic field-structure correlation within lunar soils. (a,c,e) MMI and (b,d,f) SEM result of three targeted ROI within single breccia particle (CE5-054-005). The black rectangles in (a) and the white rectangles in (b) represent the MMI and SEM results for the crack structure respectively. (Zoomed) Magnetic field distribution along the dash line in (c), which indicates the magnetic imaging resolution. (g) SEM-EDXS spectra from sites in (b,d,f). (h) SEM and (i) 3D XRM result of a Fe-Ni alloy in a single breccia particle (CE5-053-007). (j) Result of Continuous-wave ODMR measurement, where the eight peaks were categorized into four groups corresponding to NV center’s four axes. (k) Measured magnetic field distribution, projected in X, Y, Z three directions. (l) Reconstruction of single-grain vector magnetic field obtained from simulation results and 3D XRM results. 3.3. Three-dimensional vector magnetic field reconstruction In fact, magnetism-carrying minerals that record the planetary magnetic field are not necessarily uniformly magnetized particles. Instead, the primary magnetic constituents of lunar soil often exhibit complex, non-uniform magnetization states, such as single domain (SD), single vortex (SV), and even multi-domain (MD) states. Decoding the spatial arrangement and the vector magnetic field distributions of these magnetic carriers is crucial for understanding lunar geological evolution [ 39 ]. Nonetheless, non-invasively determining their precise shapes and internal magnetic structures remains challenging. Here we implemented preliminary three-dimensional magnetic field reconstruction of an Fe-Ni alloy within a breccia (CE5-053-007, Fig. 3 h–i, Extended Data Fig. 4,9 and Supplementary Materials 10). In this process, the ODMR sequence was employed under a bias magnetic field ( Fig. 3 j and Supplementary Materials 11). Following this result, we could reconstruct the magnetic field projection image of the target Fe-Ni alloy according to the method given in Supplementary Materials 12. To complement this, we also performed three-dimensional X-ray microscopy (3D XRM) imaging on the same alloy to obtain its precise morphology, followed by micromagnetic simulations ( Fig. 3 k–l, Supplementary Materials 12). The results indicate that the simulated magnetic field distribution exhibits a similarity with the experimental findings, while certain discrepancies in detail may be attributable to the presence of unknown components within the alloy. This integrated MMI-SEM-XRM-Simulation workflow for three-dimensional vector magnetic field modeling of individual magnetic carriers enables precise spatial correlation of a particle’s morphology with its intrinsic magnetism ( Fig. 3 l). And it was instrumental for elucidating how the topological configurations of different magnetic carriers influence their magnetic interactions, which paved the way for reconstructing local three-dimensional paleomagnetic field with high fidelity. 3.4. Mechanism for the observed lunar soil magnetism at the microscopic scale Our methodology provided observational evidence that magnetism recorded in lunar soil may emerge from hybridization of multiple remanence acquisition mechanisms, each tied to specific geologic processes. Moreover, the further systematic quantification of the magnetic moment (projected on the diamond sensor) across different sub-particle regions allowed us to reveal fundamental contrasts in magnetization behavior. Especially when we crossed the resolution barrier of conventional techniques and decoupled the abundance and magnetic moments of magnetic minerals, it would greatly reveal the information obscured by average ( Fig. 4 a). The preliminary result indicates that breccias ((2.917 ± 0.508) × 10 17 A·m 2 , (2.610 ± 0.275) × 10 17 A·m 2 ) exhibited stronger magnetization intensities compared to basalt clasts ((0.983 ± 0.569) × 10 17 A·m 2 ) among this batch of samples, which was possibly due to their compositions being dominated by high-magnetic-moment components. This order-of-magnitude disparity possibly stemmed from the limited magnetic moment capacity of nanoscale iron particles prevalent in basalt clasts, compared to the multidomain Fe-Ni alloys and micro- to nanoscale iron particles in breccias. Through this microscopic observation, we might infer that the impact-related magnetism dominated the source of magnetic anomalies in this sampling area. Additionally, an orientation uniformity (> 65%) of projected magnetic moments was observed in basalt. This potentially suggested that the remanent magnetization was acquired as a thermal remanence during the magma solidification process, reflecting the magnetic field present at that time, likely generated by the lunar core dynamo [ 1 , 18 ] (pathway Ⅰ). In contrast, breccia samples display almost random distributions, where the localized high-magnetic-moment clusters show preferential alignment along impact-related remanent magnetization vectors [ 3 ] (pathway Ⅱ). Those crack structures demonstrated a relatively chaotic moments distribution, possibly referring to the second modifications occurring after impact events involving micrometeorite impacts, solar wind irradiation, and secondary ejecta impacts processes [ 38 ] (pathway Ⅲ). Meanwhile, this result further supported our explanation for Fig. 3 a that the stripe-type magnetic distribution might originate as a result of solar weathering. Hence, this mechanism gives magnetic insights into the observed lunar soil magnetism, suggesting that it might originate from microscale hybridization of distinct geological processes ( Fig. 4 c). Fig. 4. Open in a new tab Mechanism for the microscopic magnetic imaging results. (a) Statistical results of projected magnetic moments’ magnitude in the regions of ⅰ) basalt, ⅱ) breccia-iron metal, ⅲ) breccia-crack, ⅳ) Fe-Ni alloy. (b) Statistical results of projected magnetic moments’ direction in the same regions in (a). (c) Schematic for illustrating three possible pathways (Ⅰ) magmatic eruption [ 1 , 18 ], (II) meteorite impact and (Ⅲ) space weathering [ 3 , 38 ] related to geological events that generate magnetism. 4. Discussion and conclusion This work established a custom-built widefield magnetic imaging platform for studying magnetic properties of lunar soil—presenting a microscale perspective beyond conventional methodologies. Through integrated analysis, we showed the first microscopic magnetic imaging of individual lunar soil particles and demonstrated that the observed lunar soil magnetism probably originated from a hierarchy where subsurface magmatic processes and impact-related fields dominate over surface expressions. This highlights the critical role of magmatic differentiation in generating magnetic signatures. Moreover, the vector magnetic tomography of Fe-Ni alloys demonstrated MMI’s capacity to resolve complex multi-vortex magnetic configurations at sub-particle scales. This capability would facilitate detailed future investigations into magnetic coupling among various intraparticle magnetic domains. We believe that correlating carrier-scale magnetism mechanisms with orbital-scale anomalies would reveal how meteorite impacts, magmatic differentiation, and other factors collectively sculpt lunar magnetic identities. Looking forward, although our methodology offers the spatial correlation to accurately attribute magnetic signals to distinct mineral structures, establishing a historical correlation with magnetic maps remains a future challenge. The spatial resolution and the sensitivity of our MMI system could be further improved by optimizing the optical system and the diamond sensor. Tying the ages of rock at the single-particle level would enable the analysis of magnetism within individual minerals spanning diverse ages. Such integrated single particle measurements would provide crucial temporal constraints on the cooling or solidification periods of the lunar dynamo, and thereby refine models of lunar interior evolution [ 35 , [40] , [41] , [42] ]. CRediT authorship contribution statement Yibo Yang: Writing – original draft, Visualization, Supervision, Methodology, Investigation, Data curation. Lin Xing: Writing – original draft, Visualization, Validation, Software, Methodology, Data curation. Zengrong Zhou: Validation, Supervision, Software, Methodology, Data curation. Yunze Zhou: Visualization, Validation, Software, Data curation. Kelei Zhu: Visualization, Data curation. Shiyang Lyu: Visualization, Software, Methodology, Data curation. Yuqin Wang: Visualization, Data curation. Xu Tang: Visualization, Data curation. Jinhua Li: Writing – original draft, Visualization, Validation, Supervision, Methodology, Funding acquisition, Data curation, Conceptualization. Jiandong Feng: Writing – original draft, Visualization, Validation, Supervision, Software, Methodology, Investigation, Funding acquisition, Data curation, Conceptualization. Acknowledgments Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest in this work. Acknowledgments The authors appreciate all staff of China’s Chang’e Lunar Exploration Project for their dedication in returning lunar samples. This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42225402, 42388101 and 21974123), the Key Research Program of the Institute of Geology & Geophysics, CAS (IGGCAS-202202 and IGGCAS-202401), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Zhejiang Provincial Universities (226-2025-00087). J.F. acknowledges the support from the New Cornerstone Science Foundation through the XPLORER PRIZE. The authors thank the Analysis Center of Agrobiology and Environmental Sciences (to X. Zheng and N. Rong) Micro and Nano Fabrication Center (J. Sun) at Zhejiang University for technical assistances. And the authors thank H. Tian at the IGGCAS for providing the lunar samples. Biographies Yibo Yang is a Ph.D. candidate in Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University. His research interests include quantum sensing and microscopic imaging. Lin Xing is a Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Her research interests include the magnetic and mineralogical features of lunar iron-bearing magnetic minerals. Jinhua Li ( BRID: 09786.00.73808 ) is a professor at the Center for Oil-Gas Theories and Methods, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGG-CAS). He earned his B.S. in Biology from Northwest University (Xi’an) in 2001, his M.S. in Microbiology from Shandong University (Jinan) in 2006, and his Ph.D. in Solid Earth Geophysics from IGG-CAS in 2010. He conducted postdoctoral research at IGG-CAS (2010–2012) and at the Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux, et de Cosmochimie (Paris, France, 2012–2014). He is funded by the Excellent Young Scientists Fund of NSFC in 2022. His research focuses on interdisciplinary studies integrating geoscience, ocean science, planetary science, and life sciences. Jiandong Feng ( BRID: 06798.00.30311 ) is a Qiushi Distinguished Professor at Zhejiang University. He received his B.S. in Chemistry from Zhejiang University and his Ph.D. in Physics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. Dr. Feng established the Laboratory of Experimental Physical Biology at Zhejiang University in 2018. He is a doctoral supervisor in both Chemistry and Optics. Prof. Feng's research focuses on developing high-resolution, single-molecule approaches and instruments to investigate chemical, biological, and interdisciplinary questions at previously unexplored scales. He is a recipient of the 2024 Xplorer Prize from the New Cornerstone Science Foundation, the 2023 Young Analytical Chemist Award in China, and the 2021 Youth Award from the Chinese Chemical Society. Footnotes Peer review under the responsibility of Editorial Board of Fundamental Research. Supplementary material associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.fmre.2025.12.007 . 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