Towards new reaction pathways

Insights on molecular dynamics in the ultrashort time window following UV excitation

30-Oct-2024 - The Attosecond Science group at the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science at DESY has developed a novel light source capable of producing extremely short pulses for the investigation of UV-induced molecular dynamics with unprecedented temporal resolution. Scientists from DESY and the University ...

Quantum communicator molecule shows further promise

A light sensitive metal-containing organic molecule responds to infrared light – pointing towards practical use in quantum technologies

28-Aug-2024 - A family of molecules known to take in the rays and flex – fitting, then, that this summer, an international team using the pulsed properties of ultrafast optical lasers and synchrotron light sources like PETRA III at DESY could publish new findings about them. This family of molecules, which are ...

How many water molecules does it take to dissolve hydrochloric acid?

13-Jun-2024 - Scientists from DESY have made a significant step towards understanding the solvation processes of hydrochloric acid (HCl) at the molecular scale. HCI is a prototypical acid that is often used for research and in industry and also plays a part in atmospheric chemistry – for example in the growth ...

First-ever X-ray attosecond experiment on liquids provides new insights into water’s molecular properties

Theorists explain how X-ray measurement freezes hydrogen motion, with implications on other areas of chemistry

19-Feb-2024 - An international team has performed an attosecond-scale experiment at an X-ray free-electron laser on liquid water for the first time, and the results may change our interpretation of water’s behaviour. The experiment team, led by scientist Linda Young from Argonne National Laboratory in the US, ...

Electron bubbles modelled from X-ray laser data

An international team of scientists uncovers a groundbreaking model for the effects of radiation in water systems

06-Feb-2024 - What happens when radiation hits water? This is a question that has an impact every time you get an X-ray at the doctor’s office, given you are mostly made of water. A team of theoretical physicists at DESY has worked on data taken by colleagues from Argonne National Laboratory in the US at the ...

New door opened to understanding the catalysis of ammonia production

Research team investigates the reaction mechanism for catalytic ammonia production at PETRA III

26-Jan-2024 - A research team from Stockholm University, in collaboration with DESY and the Montanuniversität Leoben in Austria, has succeeded for the first time in investigating the surface of iron and ruthenium catalysts in the formation of ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen; the results have been published ...

Milestone for novel atomic clock

X-ray laser shows possible route to substantially increased precision time measurement

29-Sep-2023 - An international research team has taken a decisive step toward a new generation of atomic clocks. At the European XFEL X-ray laser, the researchers have created a much more precise pulse generator based on the element scandium, which enables an accuracy of one second in 300 billion years – that ...

Scientists solve mystery about catalysis for green production of methanol from carbon dioxide

Live view into methanol synthesis

10-May-2022 - An international research team led by researchers of Stockholm University has for the first time been able to study the surface of a copper-zinc catalyst when carbon dioxide is reduced to methanol. The results – obtained at DESY´s brilliant light source PETRAIII – are published in the scientific ...

FLASH reveals ultrafast dynamics of photocatalysis

Free electron laser study sheds light on the mechanism and timescale of the photocatalytic oxidation of carbon monoxide on titanium oxide

30-Nov-2020 - An international team of scientists have studied, for the first time, the light induced oxidation of carbon monoxide (CO) to carbon dioxide (CO2) on the surface of an oxide photocatalyst in real-time using the soft X-ray free-electron laser FLASH combined with theoretical calculations. According ...

Crossing light with matter

Precision spectroscopy of X-ray polaritons

09-May-2016 - When light interacts with matter, it may be deflected or absorbed, resulting in the excitation of atoms and molecules; but the interaction can also produce composite states of light and matter which are neither one thing nor the other, and therefore have a name of their own – polaritons. These ...