Mapping a moving atom

An international team from Germany, Sweden, Russia and the US, led by scientists from European XFEL, has unveiled test results that could provide a plan for studying states movement in atoms and molecules. This would open up new opportunities to gain insight into important processes such as photocatalysis, basic steps in photo-synthesis and radiation damage.

This was the first user test performed at the XFEL European Small Quantum System (SQS) instrument. The scientists used a high-resolution electron spectroscope to get a picture of the short-term over-state obtained when X-rays punch a hole in the true cloud core of the atomic electron. The results of the study, which was performed on neon atoms, are the starting point for the analysis of moving states and were published in Corporate Review X..

A short-lived neon-state immobilized state of heart lasts for only 2.4 femtoseconds. To put femtosecond in context: femtosecond is second only to about 31.71 million years old. “The European XFEL allows us to use a high number of laser beats per second and high pulse energy. This means we can deliver a very high number of photons to the sample, which is essential for non-moving atomic states. so examine it, ”explains Tommaso Mazza, the paper’s lead author.

“We used intense X-ray beats to take the electricity out of the inner shell, or heart, of a neon atom and then used a second photon from the same X-ray pulse to remove the ’empty’ atom. mapping, ”said Mazza. “This is the first time that scientists have been able to find out about the electronic structure of this moving hole heart state by X-ray-induced electronic spectroscopy, and, more precisely, by measuring energy. of the electrons emitted after the excitation by the second photon while changing the wavelength of the X-ray pulses smoothly, ”he adds.

SQS chief scientist Michael Meyer confirms that the results of this paper along with a recently published paper in Science demonstrate the unique ability to effectively control electronic invitations specific at SQS instrument. “We can enable atomic or specific element invitations in molecular targets and independently analyze for each atom the effect on photon-induced molecular dynamics,” he says. specifically in molecules allows scientists to gain a deeper understanding of the behavior of individual building blocks in the molecular assembly under intense irradiation.

The European XFEL in the Hamburg area is a major international X-ray laser facility. The 27,000 X-rays shower every second and the high brightness opens up completely new opportunities for science. Research organizations from around the world are able to map the atomic details of viruses, determine the molecular composition of cells, three-dimensional “images” of the nanoworld, chemical “film” reactions, and processes study as those that appear deep within planets.

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