If you desire to photograph something very fast, you would like a camera with a really short exposure time. The identical principle applies in every single place in physics: for instance, extremely short laser pulses are used to visualise the processes that happen inside atoms.
Nevertheless, it is just not only laser pulses that provide answers to unsolved questions in physics, but additionally ion pulses: a brand new method has now been used to generate extremely short, powerful pulses of charged particles, which might then be shot at a surface in a precisely controlled manner in the longer term. It will make it possible to analyse very fast processes that happen on this surface. For instance, chemical processes can then be analysed while they’re still in progress.
Normally, you’ll be able to only see what stays
“Ion beams have been used for a very long time — to analyse materials, but additionally to wash or modify material surfaces,” says Prof. Richard Wilhelm from the Institute of Applied Physics at TU Wien. “Normally, nonetheless, you simply ever get to see the tip product: You shoot ions at a surface after which have a look at how the fabric has been modified in consequence. The nice difficulty to date has been to generate such short ion pulses that they may be used to follow the temporal course of the impact.”
The ion pulses generated within the laboratory at TU Wien last lower than 500 picoseconds. A picosecond is one millionth of a millionth of a second — a time span that is nearly unimaginably short by human standards. Even light travels just 15 centimetres in 500 picoseconds. This continues to be thousands and thousands of times longer than the shortest laser pulses on this planet, which run on a time scale of attoseconds. Nevertheless, this time scale enters the optimum range for analysing surfaces.
Lasers generate electrons, electrons generate ions
As a way to generate such extremely short ion pulses with high intensity, a multi-stage process needed to be developed: First, a laser pulse is shot at a cathode, which then emits electrons. These electrons are accelerated and hit a chrome steel goal. “Certain atoms at all times accumulate on the stainless-steel surface, for instance hydrogen and oxygen,” says Richard Wilhelm. “When the electrons hit this layer of attached atoms, a few of them are kicked out and fly away.”
A few of these atoms that fly away are electrically neutral, others are ionised. Electric fields may be used to exactly select which ones ought to be used further — they’re then directed with pinpoint accuracy as a brief ion pulse onto the surface that you simply actually wish to analyse.
“Because this process is began by a laser pulse, we are able to control very precisely when the ion pulse ought to be generated and when it should hit a surface,” says Richard Wilhelm. “For instance, we are able to then probe the surface with impinging ions at different times while a certain laser-activated chemical response is going down. We obtain different signals that visualise the course of the response on a picosecond time scale.”
Flexible latest technology
Until now, the best ions of all — namely protons — have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, the identical method is also used to generate other ion pulses, for instance from carbon or oxygen ions. “‘It simply relies on which atoms we attach to the stainless-steel layer that’s hit by the electrons, which may be precisely controlled,” says Richard Wilhelm. Pulses of electrically neutral atoms and even negatively charged ions will also be generated.
All of this was made possible by the START Prize, which was awarded to Richard Wilhelm by the Austrian Science Fund FWF in 2019. “This provided the financial basis to enterprise into revolutionary, complex research, which is sort of dangerous,” says Richard Wilhelm. “Well-funded START awards are an indispensable funding sources with regards to bringing daring ideas to life.” There are already plans to scale back the duration of the ion pulses even further. This is able to only require specially shaped alternating electromagnetic fields to decelerate the primary ions in the heart beat slightly and speed up the next ions slightly.
“We have now developed a promising latest and astonishingly efficient technique for investigating ultrashort processes whose temporal dynamics couldn’t previously be investigated,” says Richard Wilhelm. The tactic may be combined with existing ultrafast electron microscopy technology to offer insights into many alternative elements of the physics and chemistry of surfaces.
If you desire to photograph something very fast, you would like a camera with a really short exposure time. The identical principle applies in every single place in physics: for instance, extremely short laser pulses are used to visualise the processes that happen inside atoms.
Nevertheless, it is just not only laser pulses that provide answers to unsolved questions in physics, but additionally ion pulses: a brand new method has now been used to generate extremely short, powerful pulses of charged particles, which might then be shot at a surface in a precisely controlled manner in the longer term. It will make it possible to analyse very fast processes that happen on this surface. For instance, chemical processes can then be analysed while they’re still in progress.
Normally, you’ll be able to only see what stays
“Ion beams have been used for a very long time — to analyse materials, but additionally to wash or modify material surfaces,” says Prof. Richard Wilhelm from the Institute of Applied Physics at TU Wien. “Normally, nonetheless, you simply ever get to see the tip product: You shoot ions at a surface after which have a look at how the fabric has been modified in consequence. The nice difficulty to date has been to generate such short ion pulses that they may be used to follow the temporal course of the impact.”
The ion pulses generated within the laboratory at TU Wien last lower than 500 picoseconds. A picosecond is one millionth of a millionth of a second — a time span that is nearly unimaginably short by human standards. Even light travels just 15 centimetres in 500 picoseconds. This continues to be thousands and thousands of times longer than the shortest laser pulses on this planet, which run on a time scale of attoseconds. Nevertheless, this time scale enters the optimum range for analysing surfaces.
Lasers generate electrons, electrons generate ions
In ord
Nevertheless, it is just not only laser pulses that provide answers to unsolved questions in physics, but additionally ion pulses: a brand new method has now been used to generate extremely short, powerful pulses of charged particles, which might then be shot at a surface in a precisely controlled manner in the longer term. It will make it possible to analyse very fast processes that happen on this surface. For instance, chemical processes can then be analysed while they’re still in progress.
Normally, you’ll be able to only see what stays
“Ion beams have been used for a very long time — to analyse materials, but additionally to wash or modify material surfaces,” says Prof. Richard Wilhelm from the Institute of Applied Physics at TU Wien. “Normally, nonetheless, you simply ever get to see the tip product: You shoot ions at a surface after which have a look at how the fabric has been modified in consequence. The nice difficulty to date has been to generate such short ion pulses that they may be used to follow the temporal course of the impact.”
The ion pulses generated within the laboratory at TU Wien last lower than 500 picoseconds. A picosecond is one millionth of a millionth of a second — a time span that is nearly unimaginably short by human standards. Even light travels just 15 centimetres in 500 picoseconds. This continues to be thousands and thousands of times longer than the shortest laser pulses on this planet, which run on a time scale of attoseconds. Nevertheless, this time scale enters the optimum range for analysing surfaces.
Lasers generate electrons, electrons generate ions
As a way to generate such extremely short ion pulses with high intensity, a multi-stage process needed to be developed: First, a laser pulse is shot at a cathode, which then emits electrons. These electrons are accelerated and hit a chrome steel goal. “Certain atoms at all times accumulate on the stainless-steel surface, for instance hydrogen and oxygen,” says Richard Wilhelm. “When the electrons hit this layer of attached atoms, a few of them are kicked out and fly away.”
A few of these atoms that fly away are electrically neutral, others are ionised. Electric fields may be used to exactly select which ones ought to be used further — they’re then directed with pinpoint accuracy as a brief ion pulse onto the surface that you simply actually wish to analyse.
“Because this process is began by a laser pulse, we are able to control very precisely when the ion pulse ought to be generated and when it should hit a surface,” says Richard Wilhelm. “For instance, we are able to then probe the surface with impinging ions at different times while a certain laser-activated chemical response is going down. We obtain different signals that visualise the course of the response on a picosecond time scale.”
Flexible latest technology
Until now, the best ions of all — namely protons — have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, the identical method is also used to generate other ion pulses, for instance from carbon or oxygen ions. “‘It simply relies on which atoms we attach to the stainless-steel layer that’s hit by the electrons, which may be precisely controlled,” says Richard Wilhelm. Pulses of electrically neutral atoms and even negatively charged ions will also be generated.
All of this was made possible by the START Prize, which was awarded to Richard Wilhelm by the Austrian Science Fund FWF in 2019. “This provided the financial basis to enterprise into revolutionary, complex research, which is sort of dangerous,” says Richard Wilhelm. “Well-funded START awards are an indispensable funding sources with regards to bringing daring ideas to life.” There are already plans to scale back the duration of the ion pulses even further. This is able to only require specially shaped alternating electromagnetic fields to decelerate the primary ions in the heart beat slightly and speed up the next ions slightly.
“We have now developed a promising latest and astonishingly efficient technique for investigating ultrashort processes whose temporal dynamics couldn’t previously be investigated,” says Richard Wilhelm. The tactic may be combined with existing ultrafast electron microscopy technology to offer insights into many alternative elements of the physics and chemistry of surfaces.
If you desire to photograph something very fast, you would like a camera with a really short exposure time. The identical principle applies in every single place in physics: for instance, extremely short laser pulses are used to visualise the processes that happen inside atoms.
Nevertheless, it is just not only laser pulses that provide answers to unsolved questions in physics, but additionally ion pulses: a brand new method has now been used to generate extremely short, powerful pulses of charged particles, which might then be shot at a surface in a precisely controlled manner in the longer term. It will make it possible to analyse very fast processes that happen on this surface. For instance, chemical processes can then be analysed while they’re still in progress.
Normally, you’ll be able to only see what stays
“Ion beams have been used for a very long time — to analyse materials, but additionally to wash or modify material surfaces,” says Prof. Richard Wilhelm from the Institute of Applied Physics at TU Wien. “Normally, nonetheless, you simply ever get to see the tip product: You shoot ions at a surface after which have a look at how the fabric has been modified in consequence. The nice difficulty to date has been to generate such short ion pulses that they may be used to follow the temporal course of the impact.”
The ion pulses generated within the laboratory at TU Wien last lower than 500 picoseconds. A picosecond is one millionth of a millionth of a second — a time span that is nearly unimaginably short by human standards. Even light travels just 15 centimetres in 500 picoseconds. This continues to be thousands and thousands of times longer than the shortest laser pulses on this planet, which run on a time scale of attoseconds. Nevertheless, this time scale enters the optimum range for analysing surfaces.
Lasers generate electrons, electrons generate ions
As a way to generate such extremely short ion pulses with high intensity, a multi-stage process needed to be developed: First, a laser pulse is shot at a cathode, which then emits electrons. These electrons are accelerated and hit a chrome steel goal. “Certain atoms at all times accumulate on the stainless-steel surface, for instance hydrogen and oxygen,” says Richard Wilhelm. “When the electrons hit this layer of attached atoms, a few of them are kicked out and fly away.”
A few of these atoms that fly away are electrically neutral, others are ionised. Electric fields may be used to exactly select which ones ought to be used further — they’re then directed with pinpoint accuracy as a brief ion pulse onto the surface that you simply actually wish to analyse.
“Because this process is began by a laser pulse, we are able to control very precisely when the ion pulse ought to be generated and when it should hit a surface,” says Richard Wilhelm. “For instance, we are able to then probe the surface with impinging ions at different times while a certain laser-activated chemical response is going down. We obtain different signals that visualise the course of the response on a picosecond time scale.”
Flexible latest technology
Until now, the best ions of all — namely protons — have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, the identical method is also used to generate other ion pulses, for instance from carbon or oxygen ions. “‘It simply relies on which atoms we attach to the stainless-steel layer that’s hit by the electrons, which may be precisely controlled,” says Richard Wilhelm. Pulses of electrically neutral atoms and even negatively charged ions will also be generated.
There are already plans to scale back the duration of the ion pulses even further. This is able to only require specially shaped alternating electromagnetic fields to decelerate the primary ions in the heart beat slightly and speed up the next ions slightly.
“We have now developed a promising latest and astonishingly efficient technique for investigating ultrashort processes whose temporal dynamics couldn’t previously be investigated,” says Richard Wilhelm. The tactic may be combined with existing ultrafast electron microscopy technology to offer insights into many alternative elements of the physics and chemistry of surfaces.
