Ultrafast observations aid the understanding of vanadium dioxide

The results, reported in Science, are claimed to mark the first time that experiments have been able to distinguish changes in a material’s atomic-lattice structure from the relocation of the electrons in a process that takes place a trillion times faster than the blink of an eye.

The measurements were achieved thanks to the McGill team’s development of instrumentation that could be used by scientists in a variety of disciplines, such as examining fleeting but crucial transformations during chemical reactions, or to enable biologists to obtain an atomic-level understanding of protein function. This ultrafast instrumentation combines tools and techniques of electron microscopy with those of laser spectroscopy in novel ways.

In a statement, Bradley Siwick, the Canada Research Chair in Ultrafast Science at McGill said, ‘We’ve developed instruments and approaches that allow us to actually look into the microscopic structure of matter, on femtosecond time scales that are fundamental to processes in chemistry, materials science, condensed-matter physics, and biology.