Molecular state switching technique offers insight into reactions’ complexity

A new technique for manipulating molecular rotations using the electric fields of light waves could provide insights into electrons’ movements during a chemical reaction.¹

Chemists understand in general that reactions occur when electrons lower their total potential energy by inducing atoms to reconfigure. Tracking electrons’ picometre-scale movements over the femtoseconds during which a specific reaction occurs, and understanding what influences the probability of the reaction occurring, however, remains a formidable challenge.