First look at the exploding molecules reveal their quantum secrets

In the quantum world, molecules are still in motion. And for the first time, scientists directly captured these tiny quantum dances in action – and they did so by exploding them very well.

Even at absolute zero, individual particles constantly vibrate without fixed position, a phenomenon called zero point movement. In an article published on August 7 ScienceEuropean XFEL researchers have exploited this behavior for the 2-iodopyridine molecule, which consists of 11 atoms. By exploding the molecule with powerful gusts of X -ray pulses, the team created a “microscopic big bang” which allowed them to follow, rebuild and therefore visualize the quantum fluctuations of the molecule.

“We have seen that the atoms not only vibrate individually, but that they vibrate in a coupled way, following fixed models,” said Jahnke, principal perpetrator, in a statement. Jahnke, a physicist of the Institute of Nuclear Physics of Goethe Frankfurt University in Germany, added that iodopyridine “presents an entire repertoire of 27 different vibrational modes”, fascinating quantum behavior that cannot be explained conventionally.

The team used a technique called Coulomb explosion imaging, which zaps the molecules with X -rays to remove electrons from the target molecule. This makes the molecule loaded globally positively, which means that the parts of the atom repel and end up flying. A special instrument quickly recorded the shape and movement of each fragment of the explosion, which lasted less than a femtoseconde (a quadrillioneme of a second).

Based on the recordings, the researchers modeled the explosion to “visualize” the movement of the molecule, confirming that it aligned with the zero -correlated movement that they hoped to observe.

In addition to bringing us a tangible representation of the quantum world, the new results represent the “fingerprints” of the quantum behavior of atoms. The use of this technique to study similar phenomena for other molecules could open entirely new avenues for physicists to study individual molecules with unprecedented precision, according to researchers.

“In the future, this technique could be used to study even greater molecules, and the films resolved in the time of their internal movements are now possible,” said Michael Meyer, co-author of the study and scientist at the Hamburg Center for UltraFast Imaging in Germany, in a XFEL Declaration.

“Our goal is to go beyond the dance of atoms and to also observe the dance of electrons – a choreography which is much faster and also influenced by the atomic movement,” said Jahnke. “With our device, we can gradually create real short films of molecular processes – something that was once unimaginable.”