In the past decade, improved laser technology from the Infrared to the X-ray regime has allowed scientists to advance the frontiers of time-resolved ultrafast science. In particular, Free Electron Lasers (FELs) have been identified as the highest priority for facility construction under the DoE-Basic Energy Sciences program.

Photo-induced molecular dynamics research are being pursued aggressively with complementary photon sources with the ultimate goal of making molecular movies. These movies follow the electronic and nuclear dynamics induced by the absorption of light by molecules that occur because of the coupling between the electronic and nuclear motion. This coupling first leads to attosecond electron excitation within the molecules, followed by nuclear motion in the femtosecond range, eventually resulting in the formation and breaking of chemical bonds on the picosecond timescale. Research highlights will be presented.

Argonne Physics Division Colloquium Schedule