Koby Harding

he/him

Education: Majoring in Physics

Mentor: Cosmin Blaga, Ph.D.

McNair Project: "Imaging Molecules with Laser-Induced Electron Diffraction"

Laser-Induced Electron Diffraction (LIED) is a molecular imaging technique with sub-Ӑngström, sub-femtosecond spatiotemporal resolution, suitable for the creation of sub-reaction-scale molecule videos. LIED is distinct from other molecular imaging techniques with similar or better spatiotemporal resolution in that it is sensitive to low-mass nuclei. This feature of LIED makes the technique suitable for imaging hydrogen nuclei, and even to video their motion. Here, we image the alkanes methane, propane, n-butane, and iso-butane, chiefly in order to test the sensitivity of LIED to the butane isomer pair. The LIED DCS of Methane, included as a reference, agreed with prior studies, indicating that our setup was calibrated correctly. The experimental and theoretical LIED DCS of the butane isomer pair showed promising results with agreement in a few key areas, but due to uncertainty it’s difficult to take this agreement as a conclusive result. Our data has been passed to the theoretical group for closer inspection, and in the meantime, efforts are being made to improve data collection and reduce error. If we can show that this technique is sensitive to this pair of isomers, we’ll have the justification to move on to make molecular movies of alkane ring openings.