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Visualising a collision between an atom or a molecule or a photodissociation (half-collision) of a molecule on a single particle and single quantum level is like watching the collision of billiard balls on a pool table: Molecular beams or monoenergetic photodissociation products provide the colliding reactants at controlled velocity before the reaction products velocity is imaged directly with an elaborate camera system, where one should keep in mind that velocity is, in general, a three-dimensional (3D) vectorial property which combines scattering angles and speed. If the processes under study have no cylindrical symmetry, then only this 3D product velocity vector contains the full information of the elementary process under study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the work of Küpper, Stapelfeldth and colleagues which demonstrates the separation of conformational isomers using the electric field in a molecular-beam electrostatics deflector. In this experiment, the researchers selectively steer individual conformers who have different dipole moments through the employment of an homogeneous electric field. It explains that the different dipole moments of the conformers lead to differing degrees of deflection causing only one isomer to arrive at the interaction region. It notes that method opens the way for future researches on photodissociation or reaction dynamics involving isomers.