Molecular Movies started as a Centre of Excellence under the Danish National Research Foundation in 2006.

Motivation: Understanding of functional materials requires understanding of the real-time structural dynamics of a functioning device or the real-time dynamics of the molecules involved in a chemical reaction.

Aim: To develop and apply methods for capturing structural dynamics on the intrinsic time scale of chemical reactions and condensed-phase structural dynamics, i.e. femtoseconds to microseconds.

Method: Utilizing the most intense sources of X-rays on the planet: synchrotrons and X-FELS, to generate ultra-short, ultra-intense flashes of X-rays. These flashes of X-rays are so short that the investigated molecules, liquids and crystal lattices appear almost "frozen in place", and by combination with external triggers such as ultrafast lasers or high electric fields we can combine the frozen frames into "movies" of the structural changes taking place in the system of interest.

Current research

• Structural dynamics during photochemical reactions
• Interface dynamics in energy-storage materials.

People

(DTU Kemi)

Kasper Skov Kjær (KU)

Yun Gu (KU)

Tobias Harlang (Lund University)