First Attosecond Measurements of Electron Movements in Liquids

(ETH Zurich, August 20, 2020)

Although electron movements constitute a key event in chemical reactions, researchers until now have only been able to carry out measurements on molecules in gaseous form because they take place in a high-vacuum chamber. However, by making use of photoemissions in water, a team of researchers led by ETH Professor Hans Jakob Wörner recently was able to observe how electrons shift within molecules in a liquid state during the initial few dozen attoseconds (1 attosecond = 1x10-18 of a second) of a chemical reaction for the first time. According to Wörner, this ability to conduct measurements in liquids constitutes an important step, as most chemical reactions – especially those that are biochemically interesting, such as numerous processes, like photoemissions in water, that are triggered by light radiation – occur in liquids.