A way to visualise valence electrons
Simulations suggest an existing technique could be used to track the movement of electrons during a reaction
In order to understand and optimise reactions, chemists would love to be able to see precisely where the valence electrons are going. But this would require an imaging technique with picometre-scale spatial resolution, attosecond (10-18s) scale time resolution and sensitivity to single electronic charges. No technique currently available offers all of these. However, physicists in China have calculated that strong-field photoelectron holography – developed to obtain static information about electronic structure – may be able to furnish scientists with this type of dynamic information.