First step taken to image ultra-fast movements in chemical reactions
Friday, March 16, 2012 - 20:30
in Physics & Chemistry
Researchers have fired ultra-fast shots of light at oxygen, nitrogen and carbon monoxide molecules as part of a development aimed at mapping the astonishingly quick movements of atoms within molecules, as well as the charges that surround them. The ultra-short laser that spans only a few hundred attoseconds – an attosecond is equivalent to one quintillionth of a second – was fired in a sample of molecules and could pave the way towards imaging the movement of atoms and their electrons as they undergo a chemical reaction – one of the holy grails of chemistry research.