Since the early 20th century, X-ray and electron scattering has provided a powerful means by which the location of atoms can be identified in gas-phase molecules and condensed matter with sub-atomic spatial resolution. Scattering techniques can also provide valuable observables of the fundamental properties of electrons in matter such as an electron’s spin and its energy. In recent years, significant technological developments in both X-ray and electron scattering have paved the way to time-resolved analogues capable of capturing real-time snapshots of transient structures undergoing a photochemical reaction. Structural Dynamics with X-ray and Electron Scattering is a two-part book that firstly introduces the fundamental background to scattering theory and photochemical phenomena of interest. The second part discusses the latest advances and research results from the application of ultrafast scattering techniques to imaging the structure and dynamics of gas-phase molecules and condensed matter. This book aims to provide a unifying platform for X-ray and electron scattering.

Attosecond science is a new and rapidly developing research area in which molecular dynamics are studied at the timescale of a few attoseconds. Within the past decade, attosecond pump-probe spectroscopy has emerged as a powerful experimental technique that permits electron dynamics to be followed on their natural timescales. With the development of this technology, physical chemists have been able to observe and control molecular dynamics on attosecond timescales. From these observations it has been suggested that attosecond to few-femtosecond timescale charge migration may induce what has been called "post-Born-Oppenheimer dynamics", where the nuclei respond to rapidly time-dependent force fields resulting from transient localization of the electrons. These real-time observations have spurred exciting new advances in the theoretical work to both explain and predict these novel dynamics. This book presents an overview of current theoretical work relevant to attosecond science written by theoreticians who are presently at the forefront of its development. It is a valuable reference work for anyone working in the field of attosecond science as well as those studying the subject.