# Femtochemistry

> Femtochemistry captures chemical reactions in real time at the femtosecond timescale—the timescale of molecular bond breaking and formation. Pioneered by Ahmed Zewail with ultrafast laser spectroscopy, the field has expanded to attosecond science, probing electron dynamics within individual atomic shells. X-ray free electron lasers like the European XFEL enable serial femtosecond crystallography, capturing protein structural changes during catalysis in molecular movies. Ultrafast spectroscopy is revealing the quantum coherence phenomena underlying photosynthetic energy transfer, vision, and singlet fission for solar cells. Femtochemistry underpins rational design of photochemical reactions in industrial and pharmaceutical synthesis.

*Source: [https://selltoscientists.com/fields/femtochemistry/](https://selltoscientists.com/fields/femtochemistry/)*

**Researcher count:** 5,200
**Average funding:** $720K

## Subfields

- Transition State Spectroscopy
- Ultrafast Photochemistry
- Reaction Dynamics
- Attosecond Science
- Time-Resolved Crystallography

## Key technologies

- Ultrafast Laser Pulses
- Pump-Probe Spectroscopy
- Free Electron Lasers
- Transient Absorption
- Time-Resolved X-Ray Diffraction

## Top institutions

- Caltech (Zewail Lab legacy)
- Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter
- SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
- DESY Hamburg
- ETH Zürich

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