Abstract:
Chemists at the University of Toronto have captured atom-scale images of the melting process-revealing the first images of the transition of a solid into a liquid at the timescale of femtoseconds, or millionths of a billionth of a second. The result is an unprecedented "movie" detailing the melting process as solid aluminum becomes a liquid. This new study, led by Professor R. J. Dwayne Miller of the Departments of Chemistry and Physics, received the prestigious cover position of the Nov. 21 issue of Science.