Molecular movies

Finding provides insights into design for heat-resistant fusion chamber. 

Researchers have documented the ultrafast motion of electrons, including two processes never before captured on their natural timescales.

Using the powerful LCLS X-ray laser, researchers at SLAC have directly imaged for the first time how molecules rearrange during a chemical reaction controlled by light.

The new method allows better studies of valence electrons key to materials’ properties and could help unlock novel photocatalysts, light-switchable superconductors and other applications of the future.  

A new machine learning algorithm rapidly reconstructs 3D images from X-ray data. 

His visit highlighted the breadth of our world-class research and the people and collaborations that make it possible. A key theme of the day: how SLAC and the National Labs are advancing AI to accelerate discovery.

They used SLAC’s ultrafast X-ray laser to follow the impact of a single electron moving within a molecule during an entire chemical reaction.

Ultrafast electrons at SLAC’s LCLS facility resolved the structural changes in a light-activated molecule to determine which simulations work best. 

Researchers across the lab are developing AI tools to harness data and particle beams in real time and make molecular movies, speeding up the discovery process in the era of big data.

A study reveals an ultrathin material’s ability to circularly polarize light, potentially informing how they work in optoelectronic devices.

Improvements to the lab’s “electron camera” use AI and “time stamping” to help reveal nature’s speedy processes more accurately. 

With up to a million X-ray flashes per second, 8,000 times more than its predecessor, it transforms the ability of scientists to explore atomic-scale, ultrafast phenomena that are key to a broad range of applications, from quantum materials to clean...