Psych Central  The world's fastest measurements of molecular
vibrations  British researchers and Max Planck scientists from
Heidelberg make the speediest measurement ever of the motion of
atomic nuclei in molecules  Raw data from measurements of UV
rays, emitted by hydrogen and deuterium molecules under the
influence of a strong laser pulse. Higher pixel numbers indicate
lower UV wavelengths. The stronger D2-signal intensity indicates
that the vibrations are slower than those of H2. Image: Imperial
College London  In the last decades there has been a revolution
in measuring time-dependent molecular motion, thanks to
improvements in laser technology. One major step forward were
femtosecond pulses; they are laser flashes lasting only
quadrillionths of a second. Over this time scale, light travels
only thousandths of a millimetre. To compare: during the amount
of time it takes for a normal camera shutter to go off - 1/60 of
a second - light could transverse the distance from Berlin to
New York. Nearly 20 years a