A combined team of researchers from Israel's Hebrew University and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Germany's Universität Kassel has succeeded in demonstrating coherent control of bond-forming between atoms using a laser beam. In their paper published in Physical Review Letters, the team describes their experiments with molecule-making and outlines future possible applications.
For many years chemists and physicist have been looking at ways to control chemical reactions with coherent light delivered via lasers. To date, progress has been made in using lasers to selectively cut atoms apart by manipulating the electron bonds that hold them together.
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Ref: Coherent Control of Bond Making. Physical Review Letters (June 2015) | DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.233003
Researchers use laser beams to create molecules - Could allow for new molecular engineering opportunities
