03.10.2023, 17:56
Nobel Prize in Physics awarded for attosecond pulses
Source: OREANDA-NEWS
OREANDA-NEWS The winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2023 were Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausch and Anne L'Huillier "for experimental methods of generating attosecond pulses of light to study the dynamics of electrons in matter."
More information about the scientists' research can be found in the official press release.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences notes the merits of these physicists in creating extremely short pulses of light that can be used to measure fast processes with the movement or change of electron energy. In the world of electrons, changes occur in a few tenths of an attosecond (an attosecond is 10-18 seconds). It is so short that there are as many of them in a second as there have been seconds since the birth of the universe. As noted in the press release, the Nobelists managed to obtain ultrashort light pulses measured in attoseconds.
"We can now open the door to the world of electrons. Attosecond physics gives us the opportunity to understand the mechanisms that control electrons. The next step is to use them," said Eva Olsson, Chairman of the Nobel Committee for Physics.
The discovery of attosecond pulses can be used in electronics, where it is important to understand and control the behavior of electrons in a material, as well as in medical diagnostics – to identify various molecules.
Anne L'Huillier is a professor of atomic physics at Lund University (Sweden). In her youth, she studied theoretical physics and mathematics, but later changed her direction to experimental physics. In 1987, Anne L'Huillier discovered that when infrared laser radiation passes through a noble gas, many different overtones of light appear. Each of them is a light wave with a given number of cycles for each cycle of the laser beam. They are caused by the interaction of laser light with gas atoms. It gives the electrons additional energy, which is then emitted as light. Anne L'Huillier continued to investigate this phenomenon, laying the foundation for subsequent discoveries. In 2003, she and her group broke the world record by creating the smallest laser pulse with a length of only 170 attoseconds.
Pierre Agostini is an experimental physicist who works at the Ohio State University (USA). In 2001, Agostini investigated a series of consecutive light pulses, each of which lasted only 250 attoseconds.
Ferenc Krausch is studying experimental physics at the Ludwig and Maximilian University of Munich. In his early years he studied theoretical physics, electrical engineering. Together with a group of scientists, he generated and measured the first attosecond light pulse, thus giving rise to a new field of physics – attophysics. During the experiment, a single light pulse with a duration of 650 attoseconds was isolated.
Last year, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to French scientist Alain Aspe, American physicist John Clauser and Austrian scientist Anton Zeilinger for their research in quantum mechanics – for "experiments with entangled photons, the study of violations of Bell inequalities and work on quantum computer science." In 2021, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Giorgio Parisi for the discovery of the interaction between disorder and fluctuations in physical systems, as well as Klaus Hasselman and Shukuro Manabe for the physical modeling of the Earth's climate.
On Wednesday, October 4, the Nobel Laureate in Chemistry will be announced.
The awards will be presented on December 10 in Stockholm.
More information about the scientists' research can be found in the official press release.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences notes the merits of these physicists in creating extremely short pulses of light that can be used to measure fast processes with the movement or change of electron energy. In the world of electrons, changes occur in a few tenths of an attosecond (an attosecond is 10-18 seconds). It is so short that there are as many of them in a second as there have been seconds since the birth of the universe. As noted in the press release, the Nobelists managed to obtain ultrashort light pulses measured in attoseconds.
"We can now open the door to the world of electrons. Attosecond physics gives us the opportunity to understand the mechanisms that control electrons. The next step is to use them," said Eva Olsson, Chairman of the Nobel Committee for Physics.
The discovery of attosecond pulses can be used in electronics, where it is important to understand and control the behavior of electrons in a material, as well as in medical diagnostics – to identify various molecules.
Anne L'Huillier is a professor of atomic physics at Lund University (Sweden). In her youth, she studied theoretical physics and mathematics, but later changed her direction to experimental physics. In 1987, Anne L'Huillier discovered that when infrared laser radiation passes through a noble gas, many different overtones of light appear. Each of them is a light wave with a given number of cycles for each cycle of the laser beam. They are caused by the interaction of laser light with gas atoms. It gives the electrons additional energy, which is then emitted as light. Anne L'Huillier continued to investigate this phenomenon, laying the foundation for subsequent discoveries. In 2003, she and her group broke the world record by creating the smallest laser pulse with a length of only 170 attoseconds.
Pierre Agostini is an experimental physicist who works at the Ohio State University (USA). In 2001, Agostini investigated a series of consecutive light pulses, each of which lasted only 250 attoseconds.
Ferenc Krausch is studying experimental physics at the Ludwig and Maximilian University of Munich. In his early years he studied theoretical physics, electrical engineering. Together with a group of scientists, he generated and measured the first attosecond light pulse, thus giving rise to a new field of physics – attophysics. During the experiment, a single light pulse with a duration of 650 attoseconds was isolated.
Last year, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to French scientist Alain Aspe, American physicist John Clauser and Austrian scientist Anton Zeilinger for their research in quantum mechanics – for "experiments with entangled photons, the study of violations of Bell inequalities and work on quantum computer science." In 2021, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Giorgio Parisi for the discovery of the interaction between disorder and fluctuations in physical systems, as well as Klaus Hasselman and Shukuro Manabe for the physical modeling of the Earth's climate.
On Wednesday, October 4, the Nobel Laureate in Chemistry will be announced.
The awards will be presented on December 10 in Stockholm.
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