Photosynthesis viewed in a flash

A new method of examining the inner workings of plants has shed light on how they harvest the Sun's energy.

Researchers have taken laser snapshots lasting just one ten-thousandth of a billionth of a second to examine the role of electrons in energy transfer...The method was only made possible by developments at Imperial College London in lasers that can provide the huge range of colours in the laser pulses, a pursuit headed up by John Tisch [Physics]. 'The laser source has opened up a new frontier of optics,' Dr Tisch said. 'The beauty of it is that you really can extract the information in a single shot - the data was coming out of this much faster than it could be viewed.'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7873294.stm