Göttingen Researchers Reconstruct 3D Electron Wavefunction With Tabletop Light Source, Cutting Synchrotron-Scale Data Needs
Updated
Updated · BIOENGINEER.ORG · Aug 4
Göttingen Researchers Reconstruct 3D Electron Wavefunction With Tabletop Light Source, Cutting Synchrotron-Scale Data Needs
3 articles · Updated · BIOENGINEER.ORG · Aug 4
Summary
University of Göttingen researchers reconstructed the three-dimensional wavefunction of an electron orbital in a nanometer-sized organic molecule using a compact laboratory soft-X-ray and extreme-ultraviolet source.
Photoemission orbital tomography drove the result: femtosecond light pulses ejected electrons, and their measured momentum patterns were converted by a redesigned algorithm into a real-space map of orbital amplitude and phase.
The algorithm extracts reliable 3D information from a much smaller data set, reducing dependence on the extensive scans typically required at large synchrotron facilities.
Femtosecond tabletop pulses could eventually let researchers make 3D movies of molecular wavefunctions, tracking how electrons reorganize during light absorption and chemical reactions.