Hydrogen Molecule Nuclei Image is Obtained

German researchers have, for the first time, visualized vibration and rotation in the nuclei of a hydrogen molecule as a quantum mechanical wave packet.

The scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg photographed the molecule using intensive, ultrashort laser pulses at different points and compiled a film from the separate images.

Since a hydrogen molecule is about 5,000 times smaller than the wavelength of visible light, it is impossible to create an optical image by photographing it. Instead, Max Planck researchers used pump-probe technology to make high-resolution and ultrahigh-speed images. The molecules are bumped with a pump laser pulse and measured with a probe laser pulse.

Using the technique, the scientists created the first complete image of the dynamic of one of the fastest molecular systems over a previously unachieved short time scale.

In the future, researchers say they will model the pump laser pulse to create a wave packet so certain quantum mechanical processes take place in preference to others.

The research appears in the online edition of Physical Review Letters.