A group of researchers from the Ohio University and the Kansan University, including Romanian postdoctoral researcher Cosmin Blaga at Ohio,  captured the first images of two atoms moving in a molecule. The experiment, which appears in the recent issue of the journal Nature, used the energy of a molecule’s own electron as a “flash bulb” to illuminate the molecular motion. The researchers used ultrafast laser pulses to knock one electron out of its natural orbit in a molecule, and molecules of nitrogen and oxygen.

“The key is that during the brief span of time between when the electron is knocked out of the molecule and when it re-collides, the atoms in the molecules have moved. The LIED method can capture this movement, “similar to making a movie of the quantum world,” explained Cosmin Blaga (in picture, left). “Ultimately, we want to really understand how chemical reactions take place. So, long-term, there would be applications in materials science and even chemical manufacturing,” he goes on.

Coauthors on the paper included Anthony DiChiara, Emily Sistrunk, Kaikai Zhang, Pierre Agostini, and Terry A. Miller of Ohio State; and C.D. Lin of Kansas State. The team of researchers was led by Louis DiMauro of Ohio State University.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Ohio University)