Menu
MapConnectionsTopicsBulgariaThe Night (K-TRIO)Marie Skłodowska-CurieFor studentsFor teachersMethodologySurprise me
H2020Doctoral network2016–2020

ASPIRE · Angular studies of photoelectrons in innovative research environments

Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2016-03-01 → 2020-02-29
EU contribution
€3,180,706
Participants
15
Scheme
MSCA-ITN-ETN

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Results in brief

Angular studies of photoelectrons in innovative research environments

The determination of chemical structure is vital in understanding the efficacy of medicines and materials and consequently underlies innovation. The equilibrium positions of atomic nuclei can be routinely determined by the technique of X-ray diffraction. However, this provides only partial information. In order to develop new medicines and materials it is necessary to understand bonding character and reactivity; these are determined by the energies and spatial distributions of electrons, the so-called "electronic structure". In order to investigate electronic structure, including the changes it undergoes during a chemical reaction, new probes are required. Whereas photoelectron spectroscopy (the emission of electrons caused by the interaction of molecules with UV light) has long been known to be sensitive to electronic structure, far more intimate details can be obtained by the measurement and analysis of the angles through which the photoelectrons are emitted. The information content of these angular measurements dramatically improves if measurements can be made relative to bonds in individual molecules. This is challenging because free molecules rotate, and measurements are therefore averaged over all the possible molecular orientations. Furthermore, a full characterization requires measurements to be made over a wide energy range. The combination of these requirements has severely limited the scope of most experiments to date. Recent technological developments are revolutionizing capabilities, bringing the exciting prospect of observing how electronic structure evolves in time. The ASPIRE ITN project was established to train 12 ESRs to capitalise on these recent technological breakthroughs and brings together a unique team of internationally leading scientists to develop methods that enable the measurement of molecular frame photoelectron angular distributions (MF-PADs) of complex molecules. The project has focused on the development and integration of new light source techniques and new detection technologies to pave the way for a new approach to electronic structure determination.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

In the ASPIRE project, whose academic and industrial beneficiaries are world leading in their complementary fields of expertise, the overarching research goal is the measurement of photoelectron angular distributions (PADs) in the “molecular frame” (MF) of systems of biological relevance. These MF-PADs can be interpreted as electron diffraction patterns, achieved by “illuminating the molecule from within”, and enable the shapes and motions of individual molecules to be interrogated. Such knowledge is needed for the development of new medicines (the shapes of drug molecules dictate their function) and new materials (efficient solar cells can be constructed if energy dissipation processes in molecules are understood). Progress in this area is highly technologically driven, requiring high repetition rate, short wavelength light sources and fast detectors. The input of private sector beneficiaries is therefore critical to the scientific objectives, as well as to the enhanced training environment. Work packages on advanced light source and detector developments will feed into the overall goal through secondments, regular virtual meetings and face-to-face network meetings. The symbiosis of the developments that will take place in ASPIRE will create a research and training environment that is world-leading and optimally tailored to capitalise, for example, on the investment that has been made in the European XFEL facility. The ESRs will be trained in world-leading laboratories and will benefit from the exchange of best practice among beneficiaries and partners, and from unique training events. ASPIRE will therefore ensure that European research remains competitive in the global market, and that the trained researchers will be uniquely well-placed to contribute to the development of novel instrumentation in the future.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM · NottinghamCoordinatorUnited Kingdom
  • AARHUS UNIVERSITET · Aarhus CDenmark
  • AMPLITUDE TECHNOLOGIES SA · LISSESFrance
  • CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · ParisFrance
  • CONSIGLIO NAZIONALE DELLE RICERCHE · RomaItaly
  • CRONOLOGIC GMBH & CO KG · FRANKFURT AM MAINGermany
  • DEUTSCHES ELEKTRONEN-SYNCHROTRON DESY · HamburgGermany
  • FORSCHUNGSVERBUND BERLIN EV · BerlinGermany
  • JOHANN WOLFGANG GOETHE-UNIVERSITAET FRANKFURT AM MAIN · Frankfurt Am MainGermany
  • KORE TECHNOLOGY LTD · ElyUnited Kingdom
  • PHOTEK LIMITED · EAST SUSSEXUnited Kingdom
  • ROENTDEK - HANDELS GMBH · KELKHEIM TAUNUSGermany
  • SYNCHROTRON SOLEIL SOCIETE CIVILE · SAINT AUBINFrance
  • THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD · OxfordUnited Kingdom
  • UNIVERSITAET KASSEL · KasselGermany

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union