Captured: The First-Ever Images of Atoms Moving Inside a Molecule
First-Ever Images of Atoms Moving in a Molecule Image courtesy of Cosmin Blaga, Ohio State University Ohio State University researchers have captured the first-ever images of atoms moving within a molecule using a novel technique that turns one of the molecules own electrons into a kind of flash bulb. The technique has yielded a new way of imaging molecules, but could one day help scientists to intimately control chemical reactions at the atomic scale. The images were snapped using an ultrafast laser, which fired 50 femtosecond (a femtosecond is a quadrillionth of a second) pulses at the molecule to knock a single electron outside of the molecules outer shell. This electron, having been knocked out of its proper place, comes crashing back into the molecule, and in doing so it provides the kind of illumination the researchers need to image the molecule itself. By measuring the scattered signal of the electron...