Time-resolved electron diffraction from selectively aligned molecules
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Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Measurements of Long-range Electronic Correlations During Femtosecond Diffraction Experiments Performed on Nanocrystals of Buckminsterfullerene
Published on: August 22, 2017
Peter Reckenthaeler1, Martin Centurion, Werner Fuss
1Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Strasse 1, D-85748 Garching, Germany.
Abstract:
We experimentally demonstrate ultrafast electron diffraction from transiently aligned molecules in the absence of external (aligning) fields. A sample of aligned molecules is generated through photodissociation with femtosecond laser pulses, and the diffraction pattern is captured by probing the sample with picosecond electron pulses shortly after dissociation-before molecular rotation causes the alignment to vanish. In our experiments the alignment decays with a time constant of 2.6+/-1.2 ps.
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