Femtochemistry The Briefest Fleeting Moments in Chemistry

In his experiment, Zewail used a common laser source to both initiate a chemical change and to monitor it. When a femtosecond pump pulse passes 

FIGURE 342. Representations of Zewail s 1987 experiment using femtosecond laser pulses to study the decomposition of 1-CN (see text). (Courtesy American Chemical Society and Professor Ahmed H. Zewail.) 

The author acknowledges helpful discussions with Ahmed H. Zewail. 

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