Work

Electronic motions initiate processes that create and maintain life, and are behind the exchange of energy between light and matter. These are arguably the most important motions for human life, evolving in hundreds of attoseconds. Attosecond pulses allow us to capture them inside atoms, molecules and solids. At the turn of the millennium, Ferenc Krausz and his team – in a series of experiments – generated and measured light pulses shorter than one femtosecond, controlled and measured the electric field oscillations of visible light, and used these tools for real-time observation of fundamental electron phenomena, predicted in the last century. These capabilities will be – among others – instrumental in advancing electronics and medical diagnostics.