Quantum state tomography of molecules by ultrafast diffraction

Quantum state tomography of molecules by ultrafast diffraction | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Quantum state tomography of molecules by ultrafast diffraction Ming Zhang, Shuqiao Zhang, Yanwei Xiong, Hankai Zhang, Anatoli Ischenko, and 7 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-455320/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 14 Sep, 2021 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Ultrafast electron diffraction and time-resolved serial crystallography are the basis of the ongoing revolution in capturing at the atomic level of detail the structural dynamics of molecules. However, most experiments employ the classical “ball-and-stick” depictions, and the information of molecular quantum states, such as the density matrix, is missing. Here, we introduce a framework for the preparation and ultrafast coherent diffraction from rotational wave packets of molecules, and we establish a new variant of quantum state tomography for ultrafast electron diffraction to characterize the molecular quantum states. The ability to reconstruct the density matrix of molecules of arbitrary degrees of freedom will provide us with an unprecedentedly clear view of the quantum states of molecules, and enable the visualization of effects dictated by the quantum dynamics of molecules. Atomic and Molecular Physics ultrafast diffraction molecular quantum states molecular physics Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Full Text Due to technical limitations, full-text HTML conversion of this manuscript could not be completed. However, the manuscript can be downloaded and accessed as a PDF. Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files suppl.pdf Supplementary Information for Quantum state tomography of molecules by ultrafast diffraction Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 14 Sep, 2021 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-455320","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":24877873,"identity":"2cbf8f1e-5720-4d0d-af1f-911eda3d7d95","order_by":0,"name":"Ming Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Peking University","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ming","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":24877874,"identity":"ba9efd90-ada4-40bf-b4f7-bf6353b156a5","order_by":1,"name":"Shuqiao Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Peking University","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shuqiao","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":24877875,"identity":"c89631a7-dd7c-4e97-901e-4f798cea3769","order_by":2,"name":"Yanwei Xiong","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9412-4447","institution":"University of Nebraska-Lincoln","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yanwei","middleName":"","lastName":"Xiong","suffix":""},{"id":24877876,"identity":"c5926e50-d7ae-4cdf-a502-5005054f6e04","order_by":3,"name":"Hankai Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Peking University","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hankai","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":24877877,"identity":"70ba3eaa-6d16-4428-bd1b-87db554c8b17","order_by":4,"name":"Anatoli Ischenko","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1532-377X","institution":"Russian Technological University - MIREA, Lomonosov Institute of Fine Chemical Technologies","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Anatoli","middleName":"","lastName":"Ischenko","suffix":""},{"id":24877878,"identity":"eb3ad942-e875-48cf-825a-5e8af9059e5c","order_by":5,"name":"Oriol Vendrell","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Heidelberg University","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Oriol","middleName":"","lastName":"Vendrell","suffix":""},{"id":24877879,"identity":"b3d2e637-62b2-4096-9377-616e6df0180d","order_by":6,"name":"Xiaolong Dong","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Peking University","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xiaolong","middleName":"","lastName":"Dong","suffix":""},{"id":24877880,"identity":"8d4cff54-360d-470f-97ec-3e0a062aa418","order_by":7,"name":"Xiangxu Mu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Peking University","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xiangxu","middleName":"","lastName":"Mu","suffix":""},{"id":24877881,"identity":"36b96045-64ac-4afc-90bd-c47eb80c9520","order_by":8,"name":"Martin Centurion","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5662-2293","institution":"University of Nebraska - Lincoln","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Martin","middleName":"","lastName":"Centurion","suffix":""},{"id":24877882,"identity":"74353784-83a9-4a01-aadd-ad5e26877a81","order_by":9,"name":"Haitan Xu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Haitan","middleName":"","lastName":"Xu","suffix":""},{"id":24877883,"identity":"232c630b-c933-4139-8815-7ab3a42edfa8","order_by":10,"name":"R. 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