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. In 1987, Anne L’Huillier discovered that many different overtones of light arose when she transmitted infrared laser light through a noble gas. She continued to explore this phenomenon, laying the ground for subsequent breakthroughs in producing attosecond pulses.