BIO

Taran works at the Linac Coherent Light Source free-electron laser at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. He gained his Ph.D. from Imperial College London, where he studied new statistical methods to investigate protein structure. In his current research, he is interested in understanding how the ultrafast quantum motion of electrons can help drive chemical change. In his spare time he loves cycling, playing soccer, and trying to surf.

ABSTRACT

When a molecule absorbs an x-ray it can kick out an electron, in a process called photoionization. Understanding how this important process works is challenging, because it can take place in less than one millionth, of one billionth, of a second. I will describe how, using SLAC's x-ray laser and a stopwatch made from light, we can now measure precisely how long it takes for x-ray photoionization to happen.