Diffractive Imaging of Coherent Nuclear Motion in Isolated Molecules

Phys Rev Lett. 2016 Oct 7;117(15):153002. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.153002. Epub 2016 Oct 3.

Abstract

Observing the motion of the nuclear wave packets during a molecular reaction, in both space and time, is crucial for understanding and controlling the outcome of photoinduced chemical reactions. We have imaged the motion of a vibrational wave packet in isolated iodine molecules using ultrafast electron diffraction with relativistic electrons. The time-varying interatomic distance was measured with a precision 0.07 Å and temporal resolution of 230 fs full width at half maximum. The method is not only sensitive to the position but also the shape of the nuclear wave packet.