X-ray flashes trace atomic roles after molecules absorb light
Researchers used European XFEL pulses to watch how atoms in one molecule reflect energy flow after light absorption.
By Lucas Ferreira · Science & Environment Writer
2 min read
Researchers have recorded how a molecule shifts energy after taking in light, separating the roles played by individual atoms during the process. The work matters because it offers a way to follow light-driven chemistry at atomic scale and in real time, according to the study.
The team used X-ray flashes from the European XFEL, a facility built to produce extremely short X-ray pulses. Those flashes allowed the researchers to examine changes that unfold in trillionths of a second after light excites a molecule, according to the findings.
Atoms give different views of the same reaction
The study found that atoms inside the same molecule do not all report the same information after the molecule absorbs light. Instead, different atoms can reveal different parts of the energy redistribution process, the researchers said.
That distinction is central to the method. By looking at atom-specific signals, the researchers could separate what individual atoms contribute to the picture rather than treating the molecule as a single uniform object.
The study also provides evidence that light excitation can make an atom more sensitive to the motion of neighboring atoms. In practice, that means one atom’s response can carry information about how nearby atoms move during the earliest stages of a light-triggered chemical change, according to the researchers.
A tool for ultrafast chemistry
The method gives scientists a way to follow chemical reactions that occur too quickly for many conventional techniques to resolve. The researchers describe it as a tool for observing ultrafast processes at the atomic scale while they happen.
Such reactions are basic to many systems driven by light. The study says the approach could help researchers understand photostability in DNA, where light absorption and energy flow are important to how molecules respond to radiation.
The researchers also point to light-harvesting materials as a potential area of use. In those materials, understanding how absorbed light energy moves through a molecular system is a key question, according to the study.
The work does not just show that a molecule changes after absorbing light. It shows that the atoms within that molecule can carry different parts of the story, giving researchers a more detailed route to study energy flow in some of the fastest chemical events.
This story draws on original reporting from Phys.org.