• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Monday, September 29, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Chemistry

Electrons in quantum liquid gain energy from laser pulses

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
July 13, 2021
in Chemistry
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
IMAGE
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

IMAGE

Credit: © IEP – TU Graz

The absorption of energy from laser light by free electrons in a liquid has been demonstrated for the first time. Until now, this process was observed only in the gas phase. The findings, led by Graz University of Technology, open new doors for ultra-fast electron microscopy.

The investigation and development of materials crucially depends on the ability to observe smallest objects at fastest time scales. The necessary spatial resolution for investigations in the (sub-)atomic range can be achieved with electron microscopy. For the most rapid processes, however, proceeding within a few femtoseconds (quadrillionths of a second), the time resolution of conventional electron microscopes is insufficient. To improve the time duration of electron pulses, electrons would have to be selected within a shorter time window – in analogy to a camera shutter, which controls the exposure time in photography.

In principle, this temporal selection is possible with extremely short laser pulses through a process called laser-assisted electron scattering (LAES). In this process, electrons can absorb energy from the light field during collisions with atoms of the sample under investigation. “Structural information is provided by all electrons, but those that have a higher energy level can be assigned to the time window in which the light pulse was present. With this method, it is possible to select a short time window from the long electron pulse and thus improve the time resolution,” explains Markus Koch, professor at the Institute of Experimental Physics at Graz University of Technology. So far, however, LAES processes have only been observed in the gas phase, despite their investigation for about 50 years.

Markus Koch and his team, in collaboration with researchers from Photonics Institute at Vienna University of Technology and the Institute of Chemistry at Tokyo Metropolitan University, have now demonstrated for the first time that laser-assisted electron scattering can also be observed in condensed matter, specifically in superfluid helium.

Superfluid helium leading to success

The TU Graz researchers performed the experiment in a superfluid helium droplet of few nanometer diameter (3-30 nm), into which they loaded single atoms (indium or xenon) or molecules (acetone) that served as an electron source – a field of expertise at the institute. “The free electrons can move almost without friction within the droplet and absorb more energy in the light field than they lose in collisions with the helium atoms,” says Leonhard Treiber, the PhD student in charge of the experiment. The resulting acceleration allows for the observation of much faster electrons.

The experiments could be interpreted in cooperation with Markus Kitzler-Zeiler, an expert for strong-field processes at TU Wien, and the LAES process was confirmed through simulations by Reika Kanya from Tokyo Metropolitan University. The results were published in Nature Communications.

In the future, the LAES process will be studied within thin films of various materials, also produced inside helium droplets, in order to determine important parameters such as the optimal film thickness or the favourable intensity of the laser pulses for application in an electron microscope.

###

This research project was funded by an Austrian Science Fund project and is anchored in the Field of Expertise “Advanced Materials Science”, one of five strategic focus areas of TU Graz. Participating researchers are members of NAWI Graz Physics.

Media Contact
Markus KOCH
[email protected]

Original Source

https://www.tugraz.at/en/tu-graz/services/news-stories/media-service/singleview/article/elektronen-in-quantenfluessigkeit-tanken-laserenergie0/

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24479-w

Tags: Atomic PhysicsAtomic/Molecular/Particle PhysicsChemistry/Physics/Materials SciencesMaterialsMolecular PhysicsNanotechnology/MicromachinesOpticsResearch/Development
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

blank

Pulp Mill Waste Transformed into Eco-Friendly Solution for Eliminating Toxic Dyes

September 27, 2025

Fluorogenic Probes Unveil Ferroptosis Onset, Progression

September 26, 2025

Cutting-Edge Adaptive Optics Boost Gravitational-Wave Discoveries

September 26, 2025

Jingyuan Xu of KIT Honored with “For Women in Science” Sponsorship Award

September 26, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    86 shares
    Share 34 Tweet 22
  • Physicists Develop Visible Time Crystal for the First Time

    73 shares
    Share 29 Tweet 18
  • How Donor Human Milk Storage Impacts Gut Health in Preemies

    56 shares
    Share 22 Tweet 14
  • Scientists Discover and Synthesize Active Compound in Magic Mushrooms Again

    56 shares
    Share 22 Tweet 14

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Annexin A1 Controls Inflammation, Protects Pancreas

Parents’ Views on NICU Statistics and Uncertainty

TTUHSC Researchers Discover Resilience of Blood-Brain Barrier in Alzheimer’s Disease Model

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 63 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.