Congratulations to the 2023 recipients of The Nobel Prize in Physics: Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier for their research into attosecond pulses of light.
Agostini of The Ohio State University in the United States, Krausz of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in Germany, and L’Huillier of Lund University in Sweden are awarded 11 million Swedish crowns (about $1m).
The three Nobel Prize laureates in physics 2023 are being recognised for their experiments, which have given humanity new tools for exploring the world of electrons inside atoms and molecules. They have demonstrated a way to create extremely short pulses of light that can be used to measure the rapid processes in which electrons move or change energy.
Why is the study of attoseconds so important?
For a long time, femtosecond was regarded as a hard limit for the shortest possible bursts of light, until attoseconds were discovered! Attoseconds allow scientists to look at the very smallest particles at the very shortest timescales. Essentially an attosecond is one billionth of a billionth of a second!
This year’s laureates have conducted experiments that demonstrate a method for producing pulses of light that are brief enough to capture images of processes inside atoms and molecules.
We are very excited to see its potential impact and applications in many fields including medical diagnostics, electronics, and other uncharted territories.
