Electron Orbitals Balloon out in Response to Light (IMAGE)

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Electron Orbitals Balloon out in Response to Light

Caption

Scientists have directly seen the first step in a light-driven chemical reaction for the first time. They used an X-ray free-electron laser at SLAC to capture nearly instantaneous changes in the distribution of electrons when light hit a ring-shaped molecule called CHD. Within 30 femtoseconds, or millionths of a billionth of a second, clouds of electrons deformed into larger, more diffuse clouds corresponding to an excited electronic state.

Credit

Greg Stewart/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

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