Tunneling ionization helps scientists to track ultrafast changes in molecules

(Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology) Oleg Tolstikhin, a scientist from MIPT, together with colleagues from Japan and China have proposed a new method which allows to 'look' inside atoms and molecules and observe changes, occurring in their electron structure at unprecedented time scales (10^-18seconds).Having such an accurate description of the dynamics of atomic electrons will allow scientists to control chemical reactions by directly influencing the electrons with laser impulses.