Researchers film the first moments on the way from light to electricity

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The Orbital Cinema consortium has achieved a scientific breakthrough.

For the first time, they were able to directly film and theoretically describe the generation of electrical energy from light. The results have far-reaching implications, particularly for the further development and optimization of sustainable technologies for energy generation using photovoltaics. They provide fundamental insights into the physical processes that occur, for example, in organic solar cells, thereby laying the groundwork for more efficient applications. The study was published in the journal Physical Review X, one of the world’s most prestigious physics journals.

In time-resolved Photoemission Orbital Tomography, a pump laser pulse (blue) generates a bound electron-hole pair (exciton) in the organic semiconductor material alpha-sexithiophene. The subsequent high-energy UV laser pulse ejects an electron from the exciton, and the energy and direction of this electron are measured.
In time-resolved Photoemission Orbital Tomography, a pump laser pulse (blue) generates a bound electron-hole pair (exciton) in the organic semiconductor material alpha-sexithiophene. The subsequent high-energy UV laser pulse ejects an electron from the exciton, and the energy and direction of this electron are measured.

Please find the original publication here:

Theilen et al., “Observing the Spatial and Temporal Evolution of Exciton Wave Functions in Organic Semiconductors” Phys. Rev. X 16, 031054 (2026) https://doi.org/10.1103/3zmg-276c

And the press releases here: University of Regensburg, University of Graz, Forschungszentrum Jülich