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Science 3 December 2004:
Vol. 306. no. 5702, pp. 1691 - 1692
DOI: 10.1126/science.1106755
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Perspectives

APPLIED PHYSICS:
X-ray Movies of Wiggling Crystals

Philip H. Bucksbaum

When materials are illuminated with a laser, the atoms in the material move very slightly. In his Perspective, Bucksbaum explains how such motions can be characterized in detail with the use of ultrafast x-ray diffraction. The author highlights the report by Bargheer et al., who have studied layered semiconductor structures called multiple quantum wells with this technique. The work sheds light on the mechanism of excitation and paves the way for studies of chemical and solid-state dynamics in many other materials.

The author is at the Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 and the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA. E-mail: phb{at}umich.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)