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Ultrafast Imaging Of Isolated Molecules With Electron Diffraction, Martin Centurion
Ultrafast Imaging Of Isolated Molecules With Electron Diffraction, Martin Centurion
Martin Centurion Publications
Recent advances in ultrafast electron diffraction offer the possibility to image isolated molecules with sub-Angstrom spatial resolution in ultrafast time scales. In particular, diffraction from aligned molecules has opened the door to retrieving three-dimensional structures directly from experimental data. In this manuscript we review the progress in ultrafast gas electron diffraction and discuss remaining challenges to achieve a temporal resolution of sub-100 fs, which is needed to observe the nuclear motion in chemical reactions in the gas phase.
Gas-Phase Electron Diffraction From Laser-Aligned Molecules, Jie Yang, Martin Centurion
Gas-Phase Electron Diffraction From Laser-Aligned Molecules, Jie Yang, Martin Centurion
Martin Centurion Publications
Electron diffraction is a valuable tool to capture structural information from molecules in the gas phase. However, the information contained in the diffraction patterns is limited due to the random orientation of the molecules. Additional structural information can be retrieved if the molecules are aligned. Molecules can be impulsively aligned with femtosecond laser pulses, producing a transient alignment. The alignment persists only for a time on the order of a picosecond, so a pulsed electron gun is needed to record the diffraction patterns. In this manuscript, we describe the alignment process and show the changes in the diffraction pattern as …