Electron in Motion Filmed For the First Time
Posted on February 25, 2008
Scientists have managed to capture an electron in motion on film for the first time. MSNBC reports that scientists used very short pulses of intense laser light called attosecond pulses and a stroboscope to film the electron.
Previously it was impossible to photograph electrons because of their extreme speediness, so scientists had to rely on more indirect methods. These methods could only measure the effect of an electron's movement, whereas the new technique can capture the entire event.Here's the video. The electron's movements shown in the film correspond to a single wavelength of light so the speed has been slowed down greatly so the human eye can observe the motion. The video can also be found here on the Attosecond Physics and High-Order Harmonic Generation website. See also this post on the Curious Cat blog.Extremely short flashes of light are necessary to capture an electron in motion. A technology developed within the last few years can generate short pulses of intense laser light, called attosecond pulses, to get the job done.
"It takes about 150 attoseconds for an electron to circle the nucleus of an atom. An attosecond is 10-18 seconds long, or, expressed in another way: an attosecond is related to a second as a second is related to the age of the universe," said Johan Mauritsson of Lund University in Sweden.
Using another laser, scientists can guide the motion of the electron to capture a collision between an electron and an atom on film.