Elementary Particles and Fields and String Theory Commons^™

Imaging Electronic Motions By Ultrafast Electron Diffraction, Hua-Chieh Shao, Anthony F. Starace

Anthony F. Starace Publications

Recently ultrafast electron diffraction and microscopy have reached unprecedented temporal resolution, and transient structures with atomic precision have been observed in various reactions. It is anticipated that these extraordinary advances will soon allow direct observation of electronic motions during chemical reactions. We therefore performed a series of theoretical investigations and simulations to investigate the imaging of electronic motions in atoms and molecules by ultrafast electron diffraction. Three prototypical electronic motions were considered for hydrogen atoms. For the case of a breathing mode, the electron density expands and contracts periodically, and we show that the time-resolved scattering intensities reflect such changes …