CHD Graphic (IMAGE)

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

CHD Graphic

Caption

Upon light activation (in purple, bottom row's ball-and-stick diagram), the cyclic structure of the 1,3-cyclohexadiene molecule rapidly unravels into a near-linear shape in just 200 millionths of a billionth of a second. Using ultrafast x-ray spectroscopy, researchers have captured in real time the accompanying transformation of the molecule's outer electron "clouds" (in yellow and teal, top row's sphere diagram) as the structure unfurls.

Credit

Kristina Chang/Berkeley Lab

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