Quantum mechanics

Social psychology

Dynamics (music)

Nuclear physics

Scattering

Inelastic scattering

Ultrafast electron diffraction

Atomic physics

Electronic structure

Ab initio

Acoustics

Photoexcitation

Laser

Physics

Psychology

Optics

Electron diffraction

Molecular physics

Relaxation (psychology)

Computational chemistry

Excited state

Chemistry

Electron

Diffraction

Internal conversion

Ultrashort pulse

Science

Electronic and nuclear dynamics in one Because of the complex, ultrafast interplay between nuclear and electronic degrees of freedom, probing both nuclear and electronic dynamics in excited electronic states within a single time-resolved experiment is a great challenge. Yang et al. used ultrafast electron diffraction in combination with ab initio nonadiabatic molecular dynamics and diffraction simulations to study the relaxation dynamics of isolated pyridine molecules after photoexcitation to the S 1 state (see the Perspective by Domcke and Sobolewski). They showed that electronic state evolution and molecular structural changes can be recorded simultaneously and independently by tracing a transient signal in small-angle inelastic scattering and large-angle elastic diffraction, respectively. Science , this issue p. 885 ; see also p. 820

Simultaneous observation of nuclear and electronic dynamics by ultrafast electron diffraction