Probing magnetic materials with extreme ultraviolet radiation allows to obtain a detailed microscopic picture of how magnetic systems interact with light – the fastest way to manipulate a magnetic material. A team of researchers led by the Max Born Institute has now provided the experimental and theoretical groundwork to interpret such spectroscopic signals. The results…
Molecules Teeter in a Laser Field
When molecules interact with the oscillating field of a laser, an instantaneous, time-dependent dipole is induced. This very general effect underlies diverse physical phenomena such as optical tweezers, for which Arthur Ashkin received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018, as well as the spatial alignment of molecules by a laser field. Now scientists from…
Interatomic Light Rectifier Generates Directed Electric Currents
The absorption of light in semiconductor crystals without inversion symmetry can generate electric currents. Researchers at the Max-Born-Institute have now generated directed currents at terahertz (THz) frequencies, much higher than the clock rates of current electronics. They show that electronic charge transfer between neighboring atoms in the crystal lattice represents the underlying mechanism. Solar cells…
More Sensitive MRI Diagnostics Thanks to Innovative ‘Elastic’ Contrast Media
Researchers from the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP) have found a new method for obtaining high-quality images in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), that requires less contrast medium compared to current methods. It is made possible by using an “elastic” protein structure that can absorb dissolved xenon in a self-regulating way: The greater the amount of…
Extremely Small Magnetic Nanostructures With Invisibility Cloak Imaged
In novel concepts of magnetic data storage, it is intended to send small magnetic bits back and forth in a chip structure, store them densely packed and read them out later. The magnetic stray field generates problems when trying to generate particularly tiny bits. Now, researchers at the Max Born Institute (MBI), the Massachusetts Institute…
Laser-Driven Electron Recollision Remembers Molecular Orbital Structure
Scientists from the Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy (MBI) in Berlin combined state-of-the-art experiments and numerical simulations to test a fundamental assumption underlying strong-field physics. Their results refine our understanding of strong-field processes such as high harmonic generation (HHG) and laser-induced electron diffraction (LIED). Strong infrared laser pulses can extract…