[pchelpers] News:Electron Filmed for First Time

By LiveScience Staff

posted: 25 February 2008 ET

Scientists have filmed an electron in motion for the first time, using a 
new technique that will allow researchers to study the tiny particle's 
movements directly.

Previously it was impossible to photograph electrons because of their 
extreme speediness, so scientists had to rely on more indirect methods. 
These methods could only measure the effect of an electron's movement, 
whereas the new technique can capture the entire event.

Extremely short flashes of light are necessary to capture an electron in 
motion. A technology developed within the last few years can generate 
short pulses of intense laser light, called attosecond pulses, to get 
the job done.

"It takes about 150 attoseconds for an electron to circle the nucleus of 
an atom. An attosecond is 10^-18 seconds long, or, expressed in another 
way: an attosecond is related to a second as a second is related to the 
age of the universe," said Johan Mauritsson of Lund University in Sweden.

More here:
http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/080225-electron-movie.html
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