Visualizing electron rearrangement in space and time during the transition from a molecule to atoms.

ABSTRACT: Imaging and controlling reactions in molecules and materials at the level of electrons is a grand challenge in science, relevant to our understanding of charge transfer processes in chemistry, physics, and biology, as well as material dynamics. Direct access to the dynamic electron density as electrons are shared or transferred between atoms in a chemical bond would greatly improve our understanding of molecular bonding and structure. Using reaction microscope techniques, we show that we can capture how the entire valence shell electron density in a molecule rearranges, from molecular-like to atomic-like, as a bond breaks. An intense ultrashort laser pulse is used to ionize a bromine molecule at different times during dissociation, and we measure the total ionization signal and the angular

SUBMITTER: Li W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2996685 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature