Restructuring of Molecules with Lasers: Hydrogen Migration Controlled with Laser Pulses

摘要

Light can conduct the play of atoms and molecules in the microcosm. Humans manage to interfere with this play. Researchers from the Laboratory of Attosecond Physics (LAP) of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat (LMU) and from the Department of Chemistry of the LMU have now used light to reconfigure hydrocarbons. Using ultra-short laser pulses they removed an outer hydrogen atom from one side of a hydrocarbon molecule and directed it to the opposite side, where it rebounded. The method could be used in the future to synthesize new substances by controlling chemical reactions.