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Measuring Orbitals: Provocation or Reality?
Author(s) -
Schwarz W. H. Eugen
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.200501333
Subject(s) - atomic orbital , femtosecond , molecular orbital , interference (communication) , physics , computer science , atomic physics , laser , optics , molecule , quantum mechanics , computer network , channel (broadcasting) , electron
Can complex orbitals really be measured? Orbital functions can indeed be reconstructed from measured data by various approaches. Now even femtosecond measurements can be used, though the results are still less accurate than those achieved with purely theoretical methods. The HOMO of the N 2 molecule (see picture) has been reconstructed directly from experimental laser‐spectroscopic interference intensity measurements by means of computer algorithms.