Science Highlights | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

A long-predicted ultrafast isomerization in the UV photochemistry of bromoform is visualized for the first time by femtosecond time-resolved electron diffraction. At 267 nm excitation, the reaction pathway surpasses direct dissociation by a 60:40 margin.

Bromoform Molecules Like to Rearrange Their Atoms

Ultrafast electron diffraction imaging reveals atomic rearrangements long suspected to be crucial in the photochemistry of bromoform.

Researchers retrieved the time-varying molecular structure of photoexcited o-nitrophenol from ultrafast electron diffraction data using a genetic algorithm

Speedy Nuclei Do the Twist

Ultrafast electron imaging captures never-before-seen nuclear motions in hydrocarbon molecules excited by light.

Depiction of the dynamic atomic and nanoscale evolution of a relaxor ferroelectric following photoexcitation. Light drives ultrafast reconfigurations of the domains and rotation of the ferroelectric polarization in a few trillionths of a second.

Light Makes Special Materials Move at Ultrafast Speeds

Ultrafast electron scattering measurements reveal dynamic reconfiguration of polarization in relaxor ferroelectrics by light.

A gas-phase X-Ray scattering experiment captures cyclopentadiene rapidly transforming into the strained bicyclo[2.1.0]pentene. This structure change is triggered by a pump pulse (blue) and detected through X-ray scattering (yellow).

Carbon Rings Under Stress

Ultrafast X-ray experiments provide direct evidence that interaction of light with a hydrocarbon molecule produces strained molecular rings.

Researchers have long thought pure niobium superconducting radiofrequency cavities were best for particle accelerators. Researchers are now using a toolkit to learn how to add impurities to the cavities to make them smoother—and more efficient.

Smoother Surfaces Make for Better Particle Accelerators

An enhanced topographic analysis toolkit for forecasting and improving particle accelerator performance is helping scientists build better accelerators.

Smoother Surfaces Make for Better Particle Accelerators

An enhanced topographic analysis toolkit for forecasting and improving particle accelerator performance is helping scientists build better accelerators.

Illustration of electron transfer driven by an ultrashort laser pulse across an interface between two atomically thin materials. An electronic interlayer “bridge” state emitting lattice vibrations in the layers facilitates this electron transfer.

New Mechanism Explains Rapid Energy Sharing Across Atomic Semiconductor Junctions

Electron transfer between atomically thin materials triggers the ultrafast release of heat.

Researchers combined high magnetic fields with X-ray scattering to reveal the connection between superconducting vortices (black circles), charge density waves (red wiggles), and spin density waves (blue wiggles) in a cuprate superconductor.

What Makes High Temperature Superconductivity Possible? Researchers Get Closer to a Unified Theory

Scientists discover that superconductivity in copper-based materials is linked with fluctuations of ordered electric charge and mobility of vortex matter.