2023
Attosecond Physics
Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz & Anne L’Huillier
About This Prize
The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz, and Anne L’Huillier “for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter.” Their pioneering work made it possible to produce pulses of light short enough to capture the ultrafast motion of electrons within atoms and molecules, opening an entirely new frontier in physics where processes occurring on the attosecond timescale (10&sup-18 seconds) can be directly observed and studied.
Anne L’Huillier
“The Route to Attosecond Pulses”
Pierre Agostini
“The Genesis of an Attosecond Pulse Train”
Ferenc Krausz
“Attosecond Physics: Exploring Sub-Atomic Motions”
Key Concepts
- • Attosecond Timescale: One attosecond = 10⁻¹⁸ seconds — the natural timescale of electron motion inside atoms and molecules
- • High-Harmonic Generation (HHG): Driving intense laser pulses through noble gases to produce coherent extreme ultraviolet light at high harmonic frequencies
- • RABBITT Technique: Reconstruction of Attosecond Beating By Interference of Two-photon Transitions — a method for characterizing attosecond pulse trains
- • Electron Dynamics: Real-time observation of electron motion, tunneling, and rearrangement in atoms and molecules at unprecedented temporal resolution