Imaging quantum chemistry in action with quantum attomicroscopy

Understanding how quantum electron and nuclei motions drive biomolecular reactions is a foundational challenge in quantum chemistry and biology. While ultrafast charge migration in DNA is theorized to influence genome stability and signaling, real-time observation remains elusive. Here, we report a theoretical study employing high-level ab initio simulations to reveal attosecond charge dynamics and electronic coherences within canonical DNA base pairs. Experimentally, we propose the “quantum attomicroscope” (Q-attomicroscope)—a conceptual instrument providing attosecond temporal and sub-angstrom spatial resolution. By bridging theory and instrumentation, this work outlines a pathway for laser-mediated DNA manipulation with transformative implications for chemical reactivity and personalized medicine. The ability to probe quantum electron and nuclei motion driving biomolecular reactions could have transformative implications in our understanding of chemical reactivity and personalized medicine, however, real-time observation of these processes has remained challenging. In this Perspective, the authors propose a quantum attomicroscope (Q-attomicroscope), a concept for an instrument combining scanning tunneling microscopy with half-cycle laser pulses to generate sub-femtosecond tunneling current signals that could facilitate imaging of electron motion and the initiation of chemical reactions in real time.