Super-resolution femtosecond electron diffraction reveals electronic and nuclear dynamics at conical intersections.

ABSTRACT: Conical intersections play a pivotal role in excited-state quantum dynamics. Capturing transient molecular structures near conical intersections remains challenging due to the rapid timescales and subtle structural changes involved. We overcome this by combining the enhanced temporal resolution of mega-electron-volt ultrafast electron diffraction with a super-resolution real-space inversion algorithm, enabling visualization of nuclear and electronic motions at conical intersections with sub-angstrom resolution, surpassing the diffraction limit. We apply this technique to the textbook example of the ring-opening reaction of 1,3-cyclohexadiene, which proceeds through two conical intersections within 100 femtoseconds. The super-resolved transient structures near conical intersections reveal a

SUBMITTER: Jiang H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12280016 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature