Quantum Cinema: 11.3 Million Euros for Super Slow-Motion Microscopy of Electrons
Observing incredibly fast quantum processes and chemical reactions at the highest resolution: That is the goal of the “Orbital Cinema” project, for which physicists from the coordinating Forschungszentrum Jülich and the universities in Marburg, Regensburg and Graz today received one of the prestigious Synergy Grants from the European Research Council (ERC). The researchers want to record for the first time the rapid movements of electrons in molecules in ultra-fast slow motion. This will provide revolutionary insights into the inner structure of quantum leaps and charge transfer processes and show how chemical reactions can be controlled by electric fields and light. (Source: Forschungszentrum Jülich – Press Releases)
Electrons are fascinating particles. According to the strange laws of quantum mechanics, they have no exact location. Instead, they buzz around with a certain probability in areas of space also known as orbitals. The shape of these orbitals is reminiscent of balloons or soap bubbles that surround the atomic nuclei. The great scientific interest in these structures is due to the fact that orbitals are considered the key to a better understanding of chemical reactions and quantum processes, for example in quantum computers or solar cells.
The European Research Council ERC has now awarded the physicists Prof. Stefan Tautz from Forschungszentrum Jülich, Prof. Ulrich Höfer from Philipps-Universität Marburg, Prof. Rupert Huber from the University of Regensburg and Prof. Peter Puschnig from the University of Graz one of the highest European research awards for further research into these orbitals, a Synergy Grant worth 11.3 million euros. The prize can only be won as a team; with this prize category, the ERC supports scientifically groundbreaking endeavours by outstanding researchers that cannot be addressed by a single research group alone.
The four physicists from Germany and Austria are aiming to track orbitals not only in still images, but in a kind of “orbital cinematography”. The bar could hardly be higher because electron orbitals are extremely tiny and, at the same time, they move incredibly fast. To accomplish this “Mission Impossible”, the physicists are planning a completely new kind of super slow-motion microscope.
“We want to see, in slow motion, how orbitals change when chemical bonds form or break,” explains Stefan Tautz from Forschungszentrum Jülich, who is coordinating the project. “In the natural and life sciences, people have long dreamed of being able to precisely measure these orbitals. The challenge lies in the fact that, as quantum mechanical quantities, in a strict sense they cannot actually be observed directly,” says Stefan Tautz.
However, this will now become possible thanks to the synergy within the team. A few years ago, Peter Puschnig and Stefan Tautz, along with their colleague Mike Ramsey from Graz, demonstrated a spectacular imaging method – so-called photoemission orbital tomography – with which an electron orbital can be imaged as comprehensively as quantum mechanics allows.
The Jülich and Graz researchers succeeded in taking another important step in 2021 together with Ulrich Höfer’s research group at the University of Marburg. Using a novel momentum microscope and a dedicated laser, they were able to take snapshots of orbitals at an extremely high temporal resolution – though not yet a full movie – as part of the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Center SFB 1083.
Rupert Huber’s research group, in turn, specialises in tracking processes that are faster than a single oscillation period of light. Together with Ulrich Höfer, the group showed in 2018 that cinematographic recordings with the required temporal resolution are possible in principle. The researchers had directly visualised how light fields accelerate electrons in solid matter.
“The combination of our expertise in the ERC Synergy project now creates something radically new,” says a delighted Stefan Tautz, “namely a quantum wave function laboratory in which one can directly observe how light fields dynamically shape orbitals.”
The original press release can be found at:
Quantum Cinema: 11.3 Million Euros for Super Slow-Motion Microscopy of Electrons
Localization in the Helmholtz Research Field Information:
Helmholtz Research Field Information, Program 2: Natural, Artificial and Cognitive Information Processing, Topic 1: Quantum Materials
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Frank Stefan Tautz
Peter Grünberg Institut for Quantum Nanoscience (PGI-3)
Forschungszentrum Jülich
Phone: +49 2461 61-4561
E-Mail: s.tautz@fz-juelich.de
Contact for this press release:
Tobias Schlößer
Press Officer
Forschungszentrum Jülich
Phone: +49 2461 61-4771
E-Mail: t.schloesser@fz-juelich.de
