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

Illustration of an eye with the chemical structure for rhodopsin molecules in front of it

Unveiling the Molecular Mechanism of Vision Using Ultrafast X-ray Pulses

How visual rhodopsin responds to light in one of nature’s fastest reactions. 

Two synchronized flashes of ultrafast X-rays interact with a molecule. The electrons ionized from the molecule are detected with an energy spectrometer, providing observation of the interaction between the two particles at the attosecond timescale.

Action! Attosecond X-rays Produce Ultrafast Movies

Researchers use an X-ray free-electron laser to film electrons using finely tuned pairs of attosecond flashes.

Structure of Iridium (Ir) dimer complex showing an Ir-Ir bonding molecular orbital populated (left) and an Ir-Ir anti-bonding molecular orbital depopulated (right) by optical excitation.

Advanced Techniques Paint a More Accurate Picture of Molecular Geometry in Metal Complexes

Ultrafast X-ray scattering and advanced numerical simulations decode distinct molecular structures and their equilibration dynamics in metal-metal complexes.

This sample of niobium has been treated in a process that is typical for preparing particle accelerator components. Tests have revealed how adding oxygen to such components makes them more efficient.

Oxygen Tweaking May Be the Key to Optimizing Particle Accelerators

Modeling the diffusion of oxygen into accelerator cavities allows scientists to tailor their properties.

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.