Sub-micron thick liquid sheets produced by isotropically etched glass nozzles.

We report on the design and testing of glass nozzles used to produce liquid sheets. The sheet nozzles use a single converging channel chemically etched into glass wafers by standard lithographic methods. Operation in ambient air and vacuum was demonstrated. The measured sheet thickness ranges over one order of magnitude with the smallest thickness of 250 nm and the largest of 2.5 µm. Sheet thickness was shown to be independent of liquid flow rate, and dependent on the nozzle outlet area. Sheet surface roughness was dependent on nozzle surface finish and was on the order of 10 nm for polished nozzles. Electron transmission data is presented for various sheet thicknesses near the MeV mean free path and the charge pair distribution function for D2O is determined from electron scattering data.

Simultaneous observation of nuclear and electronic dynamics by ultrafast electron diffraction.

Simultaneous observation of nuclear and electronic motion is crucial for a complete understanding of molecular dynamics in excited electronic states. It is challenging for a single experiment to independently follow both electronic and nuclear dynamics at the same time. Here we show that ultrafast electron diffraction can be used to simultaneously record both electronic and nuclear dynamics in isolated pyridine molecules, naturally disentangling the two components. Electronic state changes (S1→S0 internal conversion) were reflected by a strong transient signal in small-angle inelastic scattering, and nuclear structural changes (ring puckering) were monitored by large-angle elastic diffraction. Supported by ab initio nonadiabatic molecular dynamics and diffraction simulations, our experiment provides a clear view of the interplay between electronic and nuclear dynamics of the photoexcited pyridine molecule.