Ultrafast structural dynamics at atomic resolution

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Imagine being able to actually watch - at the atomic level - the progress of a chemical reaction, or the atomic rearrangements taking place in materials during a phase transition. The human eye won't be much help - nor will a light-microscope - since atoms are only one ten-millionth of a millimeter in size. To compound the difficulty, during a chemical reaction atomic motions can occur in one trillionth of a second; much too fast for the eye or any video camera to capture. Such a view of the microsocpic world requires a special 'molecular movie' camera that can see atoms and operate at frame-rates faster than the atomic motions (so that they don't become blurred). This proposal seeks to develope this 'molecular movie camera'. The approach is based on uniting the tools and techniques of transmission electron microscopy with those of ultrafast laser spectroscopy. There will be many technological applications, particularly in those fields that attempt to harness atomic motions in molecules and materials for electronic and advance materials applicaitons. For the first time we will be able to actually see what the atoms are doing.