Ultrashort Laser Pulse Microscope Maps Electron Interactions in Thin Materials

A new type of advanced microscope (wide-field coherent multidimensional microscopy) has been developed. It uses a carefully designed sequence of ultrashort light pulses to study the behavior of high-tech materials, with potential practical applications in the study of innovative materials such as those used to build solar panels. This is the result of work by a research group of physicists from the Faculty of Sciences, Mathematics, Physics, and Natural Sciences at Università Cattolica's Brescia campus who, for the first time, have developed a "multidimensional microscope" that, in a sense, records the behavior of materials.

The study is published in the journal Optica and coordinated by the dean of the faculty, professor Claudio Giannetti, director of the Interdisciplinary Laboratories for Advanced Materials Physics (ILAMP).

Tracking ultrafast electron interactions

The new microscope can track phenomena that occur over incredibly short time frames, on the order of a few millionths of a billionth of a second. To achieve this, the microscope uses extremely short laser light pulses and observes the material's reaction step by step to understand the mechanisms of electron interaction in different regions of a microelectronic device.

This type of microscope was developed for the first time at the ILAMP laboratories in Brescia, in collaboration with Politecnico di Milano, KU Leuven, the University of British Columbia and the CNR. It works by creating a sequence of identical light pulses that illuminate a sample placed inside the microscope. This is the most delicate part of the process and was developed in collaboration with NIREOS S.r.l., a spinoff of Politecnico di Milano that specializes in new photonics solutions.

Mapping imperfections for more efficient devices

Scientists tested the new microscope on a device consisting of a small sheet of tungsten diselenide just a few atomic layers thick. This graphene-like material is of great interest in optoelectronics because of its unique optical and electronic properties. The researchers observed how the material's properties vary depending on its position within the microdevice, providing insight into the mechanisms that prevent electrons from moving freely.

The microscope could be used, for example, to identify imperfections that might compromise a device's efficiency in electrical transport and energy exchange. Information of this kind could help in designing more efficient solar cells, as well as faster LEDs, sensors and electronic devices.

Biological and quantum research applications

The technique could also be useful in studying biological systems and the metabolism of cancer cells, in synergy with other research projects at the center (Q-META).

This result marks the beginning of a new field of research in which ILAMP is working to understand how to observe and control the quantum properties of a material, thereby paving the way for the development of new systems to form qubits, the building blocks of quantum computers. These systems would operate at temperatures several orders of magnitude higher than those of current technology and at speeds 1,000 times faster.

Publication details

Mohammadjavad Azarm et al, Coherent multidimensional widefield microscopy, Optica (2026). DOI: 10.1364/optica.590834

Journal information: Optica

Who's behind this story?

Robert Egan

Bachelor's in mathematical biology, Master's in creative writing. Well-traveled with unique perspectives on science and language. Full profile →

Citation: Ultrashort laser pulses let new microscope map electron interactions across thin materials (2026, October 7) retrieved 17 October 2026 from https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ultrashort-laser-pulses-microscope-electron.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.