Technology News
Researchers monitor electron behavior during chemical reactions for the first time
Date : 31-Jan-2019
A simulation of indium wire atoms (red) on top of a silicon substrate. The glowing regions highlight where indium bonds have been excited and photoholes have formed.
Credit: Andreas Lucke
Researchers demonstrated their ability to observe electrons' movements during a chemical reaction.
In a recent publication in Science, researchers at the University of Paderborn and the Fritz Haber Institute Berlin demonstrated their ability to observe electrons' movements during a chemical reaction. Researchers have long studied the atomic-scale processes that govern chemical reactions, but were never before able to observe electron motions as they happened.
Electrons exist on the smallest scales, being less than one quadrillionth of a meter in diameter and orbiting an atom at femtosecond speeds (one quadrillionth of a second). Experimentalists interested in observing electron behaviour use laser pulses to interact with the electrons. They can calculate the energy and momentum of the electrons by analysing the properties of the electrons kicked out of the probe by the laser light.
For details: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181221123657.htm
Credits/News Sources: ScienceDaily
Reference/Link: C. W. Nicholson, A. Lücke, W. G. Schmidt, M. Puppin, L. Rettig, R. Ernstorfer, M. Wolf. Beyond the molecular movie: Dynamics of bands and bonds during a photoinduced phase transition. Science, 2018; 362 (6416): 821 DOI: 10.1126/science.aar4183