Electron Phonon Coupling Graphic (IMAGE)
Caption
In this illustration, an infrared laser beam (orange) triggers atomic vibrations in a thin layer of iron selenide, which are then recorded by ultrafast X-ray laser pulses (white) to create an ultrafast movie. The motion of the selenium atoms (red) changes the energy of the electron orbitals of the iron atoms (blue), and the resulting electron vibrations are recorded separately with a technique called ARPES (not shown). The coupling of atomic positions and electronic energies is much stronger than previously thought and may significantly impact the material's superconductivity.
Credit
Greg Stewart/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
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