Check out our study on Ionization-induced symmetry-breaking dynamics in the CO2 dimer(Nature Communications 2024)
The outcome of chemical reactions is determined by the underlying quantum mechanisms.
Molecular dynamics of chemical reactions occur on ultrafast time-scales and on the sub-nanometer length scale, thus posing a technological challenge to capture and probe such dynamics in real-time.
We develop novel experimental techniques for visualizing molecular dynamics, probing the mechanisms that break chemical bonds and form new ones in isolated molecules and clusters.
Femto-second lasers, linear and non-linear optics, as well as ion-beam optics are applied in many high-tech industries. In our group, we make use of such cutting-edge technologies to study chemical reaction dynamics.
Our experimental setups combine femtosecond laser techniques (such as HHG of ultrafast EUV pulses) and merged-beams experiments (such as the HEIBT and DESIREE) with advanced ion beam optics and 3D fragment imaging detectors to allow investigation of molecular dissociation events on the relevant ultrafast time-scales.