Separately, the reflection of laser light allowed scientists to infer something about atoms on the move but only at general levels. Nonetheless, clear, more revealing images of the molecular movement in materials undergoing changes such as heating, cooling, compression and breaking, had remained elusive until now. To make the new atomic-scale movies, Wilson's team was able to tweak a laser so that it would produce shorter, more intense bursts of light. The X-rays refract off the atoms and hit detectors no bigger than a saucer. Computers then calculate the atoms' positions in the material and reconstruct images of their arrangement into a snapshot.
Sequential snapshots make a movie.
Chris Barty and Christoph Rose-Petruck of UCSD and Ralph Jimenez of The Scripps Research Institute also participated in the research.