Ytterbium thin-disk lasers pave the way for sensitive detection of atmospheric pollutants

The laser's capacity to generate high-power, stable pulses in the SWIR range is a game-changer for field-resolved spectroscopy and femtosecond fieldoscopy

19-Nov-2024 - Alongside carbon dioxide, methane is a key driver of global warming. To detect and monitor the climate pollutants in the atmosphere precisely, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) have developed an advanced laser technology. A high-power ytterbium thin-disk laser ...

Shedding light on superconducting disorder

25-Sep-2024 - The importance of disorder in physics is only matched by the difficulty to study it. For example, the remarkable properties of high-temperature superconductors are greatly affected by variations in the chemical composition of the solid. Techniques that enable measurements of such disorder and its ...

Scientists accelerate spectroscopic analysis

"This innovation expands the application of compressed sensing to real-time spectroscopic measurement"

26-Apr-2024 - Ultrafast laser spectroscopy allows the ascertainment of dynamics over extremely short time scales, making it a very useful tool in many scientific and industrial applications. A major disadvantage is the considerable measuring time this technique usually requires, which often leads to lengthy ...

Pumping up the music of molecules

Significantly improving the "sense of smell" of molecular laser spectroscopy: Increases chances to reliably detect diseases

25-Aug-2022 - Sensitive animal noses can sniff out trace particles, such as volatile organic compounds, in the ambient air. Humans, on the other hand, are developing innovative technologies for this purpose, such as optical spectroscopy. This uses laser light to detect the molecular composition of gases. It ...

Highly Accurate Results at Low Computational Cost

Researchers Succeed in Predicting NMR Parameters with DLPNO Approximation

20-May-2021 - Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is one of the most important analytical techniques used in chemical, pharmaceutical, and biomedical research as well as in materials sciences. It provides detailed information about the structures of molecules in solution, which is, however, indirect. Hence, ...

The next phase of the proton puzzle

New milestone in frequency comb spectroscopy

30-Nov-2020 - Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) have succeeded in testing quantum electrodynamics with unprecedented accuracy to 13 decimal places. The new measurement is almost twice as accurate as all previous hydrogen measurements combined and moves science one step closer to ...

Detecting the handedness of a single nanoparticle

New microscope-based spectrometer records both polarization states simultaneously and permitted the first observation of a dynamically moving single nanoparticle

11-Sep-2020 - Scientists from the Micro, Nano and Molecular Systems Lab at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems have developed a new spectroscopic-microscope, which can be used to observe a single nanoparticle in real time. This enabled the first detection of a nanoparticle’s handedness while it is ...

The Higgs boson and superconductivity

New form of spectroscopy provides insights for the development of resistance-free current transport at ambient temperature

20-May-2020 - Without the Higgs mechanism, particles would have no mass. The Higgs boson, which was discovered in 2012, is therefore also referred to as the “God particle”. It arises as an oscillating excitation of the Higgs field, which penetrates the world. Superconductivity displays similar properties. ...

Quantum logic spectroscopy unlocks potential of highly charged ions

31-Jan-2020 - Scientists from the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) and the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics (MPIK) have carried out pioneering optical measurements of highly charged ions with unprecedented precision. To do this, they isolated a single Ar¹³⁺ ion from an extremely hot plasma ...

Unexpected flexibility found in odorant molecules

High resolution rotational spectroscopy reveals an unprecedented number of conformations of an odorant molecule – a new world record!

29-Jun-2016 - In a recent publication in the journal Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter at the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science and from the Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging (CUI) led by Melanie Schnell have ...