Physicists at Göttingen University imaged three-dimensional wave functions using a tabletop soft X-ray laser.

An electron inside a molecule does not occupy one fixed point. Quantum mechanics instead describes it through a “wavefunction,” a mathematical map that gives the probabilities of properties such as position and momentum.

Within molecules, these electron wavefunctions are known as “molecular orbitals.” Their shapes contain information about how a molecule may absorb light, interact with its surroundings, or undergo a chemical reaction.