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Capturing Femtosecond Snapshots of Molecular Processes

Posted by Unknown on from the a-lot-can-happen-in-a-quadrillionth-of-a-second dept.

umarkalim writes "Staff Scientist Apurva Mehta says, 'For 40 years at Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, we have been taking very high-resolution photographs-photographs of atoms in molecules and crystals and of electronic structures. But now we want to make movies.' He and his colleagues are developing a new 'pump-probe' facility that promises to expand SSRL's capabilities and complement those of SLAC's X-ray laser, the Linac Coherent Light Source."

2 of 22 comments (clear)

  1. Differences from Zewail's Lab? by Rylz · · Score: 3, Informative

    This looks like it may simply be an implementation of the process described by Ahmed Zewail in the 90's, which also operates on femtosecond time scales. Perhaps this "pump-probe" deal is what makes this approach novel?

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    1. Re:Differences from Zewail's Lab? by hey! · · Score: 4, Informative

      Still photos, but of shorter wavelength. Shorter wavelength == finer resolution.

      Imagine you are blindfolded and are trying to determine the shape of some three dimensional object that you can't touch. You'd get a finer picture of the thing if you probed it with the tip of a pencil than if you felt it through a boxing glove.

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