Electronic structure of atoms and molecules articles within Nature

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    We demonstrate a photon-counting approach that extends the unique advantages of spectroscopy with interfering frequency combs into regions where nonlinear frequency conversion tends to be very inefficient, providing a step towards precision broadband spectroscopy at short wavelengths and extreme-ultraviolet dual-comb spectroscopy.

    • Bingxin Xu
    • , Zaijun Chen
    •  & Nathalie Picqué

  • Article
    | Open Access

    An experiment sensitive to higher-order quantum electrodynamics effects and electron–electron interactions in the high-Z regime was performed using a multi-reference method based on Doppler-tuned X-ray emission from stored relativistic uranium ions with different charge states.

    • R. Loetzsch
    • , H. F. Beyer
    •  & M. Trassinelli

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A high-precision, high-field test of quantum electrodynamics measuring the bound-electron g factor in hydrogen-like tin is described, which—together with state-of-the-art theory calculations—yields a stringent test in the strong-field regime.

    • J. Morgner
    • , B. Tu
    •  & K. Blaum

  • Article |

    An optical atomic clock operating on a magnetic-dipole transition in a highly charged argon ion is shown to improve uncertainties for the absolute transition frequency and isotope shift by several orders of magnitude.

    • Steven A. King
    • , Lukas J. Spieß
    •  & Piet O. Schmidt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A many-body theory of binding interactions between positrons and polar and nonpolar molecules is developed, showing agreement with experimental data up to within 1%.

    • Jaroslav Hofierka
    • , Brian Cunningham
    •  & Dermot G. Green

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Measurements of low-energy electronic states of radium monofluoride validate predictions of the use of this short-lived radioactive molecule in exploring fundamental physics and provide evidence of its suitability for laser cooling.

    • R. F. Garcia Ruiz
    • , R. Berger
    •  & X. F. Yang

  • Article |

    Long-lived pionic helium atoms (composed of a helium-4 nucleus, an electron and a negatively charged pion) are synthesized in a superfluid-helium target, as confirmed by laser spectroscopy involving the pion-occupied orbitals.

    • Masaki Hori
    • , Hossein Aghai-Khozani
    •  & Daniel Barna

  • Article |

    The precision of laser spectroscopy of highly charged ions is improved by eight orders of magnitude by cooling trapped, highly charged ions and using quantum logic spectroscopy, thereby enabling tests of fundamental physics.

    • P. Micke
    • , T. Leopold
    •  & P. O. Schmidt

  • Letter |

    Improved techniques allow the measurement of a frequency difference with an uncertainty of the order of 10–19 between two independent atomic optical lattice clocks, suggesting that they may be able to improve state-of-the-art geodetic techniques.

    • W. F. McGrew
    • , X. Zhang
    •  & A. D. Ludlow

  • Letter |

    Watching a single molecule move calls for measurements that combine ultrafast temporal resolution with atomic spatial resolution; this is now shown to be possible by combining scanning tunnelling microscopy with lightwave electronics, through a technique that involves removing a single electron from the highest occupied orbital of a single pentacene molecule in a time window shorter than an oscillation cycle of light.

    • Tyler L. Cocker
    • , Dominik Peller
    •  & Rupert Huber

  • Letter |

    Resonance ionization spectroscopy of nobelium (atomic number 102) reveals its ground-state transition and an upper limit for its ionization potential, paving the way to characterizing even heavier elements via optical spectroscopy.

    • Mustapha Laatiaoui
    • , Werner Lauth
    •  & Alexander Yakushev

  • Letter |

    Lawrencium, with atomic number 103, has an isotope with a half-life of 27 seconds; even so, its first ionization potential has now been measured on an atom-at-a-time scale and agrees well with state-of-the-art theoretical calculations that include relativistic effects.

    • T. K. Sato
    • , M. Asai
    •  & N. Trautmann

  • Letter |

    The dynamics of two correlated electrons can be reconstructed from the quantum interference of low-lying doubly excited states in helium, as observed in attosecond transient-absorption spectra, and can be controlled by tuning the interaction with a visible laser field of variable intensity.

    • Christian Ott
    • , Andreas Kaldun
    •  & Thomas Pfeifer

  • Letter |

    A very precise measurement of the magnetic moment of a single electron bound to a carbon nucleus, combined with a state-of-the-art calculation in the framework of bound-state quantum electrodynamics, gives a new value of the atomic mass of the electron that is more precise than the currently accepted one by a factor of 13.

    • S. Sturm
    • , F. Köhler
    •  & K. Blaum

  • Letter |

    Electronic nematicity, a unidirectional self-organized state that breaks the rotational symmetry of the underlying lattice, has been observed in an iron-based superconductor, BaFe2(As1−xP x )2, over a wide range of phosphorus concentration, resulting in a phase diagram similar to the pseudogap phase diagram of the copper oxides.

    • S. Kasahara
    • , H. J. Shi
    •  & Y. Matsuda

  • Letter |

    New methods are emerging that aim to image chemical reactions as they occur using X-ray diffraction, electron diffraction or laser-induced recollision, but spectral selection cannot be used to monitor the reacting molecules for these methods. These authors show that this apparent limitation offers opportunities for recollision-based high-harmonic spectroscopy, in which unexcited molecules can act as local oscillators against which structural and electronic dynamics is observed on an attosecond timescale.

    • H. J. Wörner
    • , J. B. Bertrand
    •  & D. M. Villeneuve

  • News & Views |

    Unlike its neighbours on the right-hand side of the periodic table, boron barely forms an anion. A new trick has been established that allows it to do so, enabling a highly unusual complex to be prepared.

    • Kyoko Nozaki

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