Molecules break up under quantum control

A new study of how light causes diatomic molecules to break apart has revealed significant flaws in the traditional theory describing the photodissociation process. The work has been carried out by physicists and chemists in the US and Poland, and suggests that the dissociation of molecules prepared in pure quantum states is best described by a recently developed quantum-chemistry model. As well as providing further insights into the quantum nature of molecules, the experimental technique could form the basis of a new source of entangled atoms for matter-wave experiments.