Interplay of light and matter – A “perfect” attosecond experiment

Detection of the shape of an electronic wave function with a six-fold symmetry NRC Ottawa

An attosecond is one quintillionth of a second, roughly equivalent to the relationship between one second and the age of the universe. Attosecond light pulses can profoundly change the states of matter.

By using attosecond light pulses, electrons can be excited to a higher energy level (a higher orbital), which is characterized by a series of quantum numbers that describe the energy of the excited electron, the rotation of the electron around the core of the atom and its spin. If the energy that is transferred from the attosecond pulse to the atom is high enough, the electron can even ionize – which means that it leaves the atom and flies off, for example towards a detector.

In the new attosecond experiment, the scientists managed to completely measure all quantum numbers of the released electron – or indeed, the wave function of a released electron – which is why the experiment may be called a “perfect” attosecond experiment.

“Attosecond research is still in its infancy,” says Professor Dr Marc Vrakking, MBI Director and co-author of the publication. “It’s only because of very recent developments in laser technology that experiments of this kind have become possible. Attosecond experiments allow us to comprehensively measure the changes that the absorption of light bring about in matter. Our results make an important contribution to fundamental research in quantum physics.”

Electrons are elementary particles that make electricity possible. Ionization, for example, is the basis for the operation of solar cells. Sun light releases electrons in silicon, generates a current flow. The current experiment used laser pulses to release electrons from atoms, and to measure and describe how this changed the state of the atom and the electron. Lasers are also essential tools for storing and transmitting information in measurement technology, in medical diagnostics and in modern production technology, from shipbuilding and aircraft construction to computer chips.

Publication:
Coherent imaging of an attosecond electron wave packet
D. M. Villeneuve, Paul Hockett, M. J. J. Vrakking, Hiromichi Niikura
Science. 2017, Vol. 356, Issue 6343, doi: http://science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi/10.1126/science.aam8393 (link will be live at the embargo time)

Please find attached images and a summary of the research results.

Contact:
Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy
Professor Dr Marc Vrakking
Tel. +49 (0)30-6392-1200
E-mail marc.vrakking@mbi-berlin.de

http://science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi/10.1126/science.aam8393

Media Contact

Anja Wirsing Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V.

More Information:

http://www.fv-berlin.de

All latest news from the category: Physics and Astronomy

This area deals with the fundamental laws and building blocks of nature and how they interact, the properties and the behavior of matter, and research into space and time and their structures.

innovations-report provides in-depth reports and articles on subjects such as astrophysics, laser technologies, nuclear, quantum, particle and solid-state physics, nanotechnologies, planetary research and findings (Mars, Venus) and developments related to the Hubble Telescope.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Lighting up the future

New multidisciplinary research from the University of St Andrews could lead to more efficient televisions, computer screens and lighting. Researchers at the Organic Semiconductor Centre in the School of Physics and…

Researchers crack sugarcane’s complex genetic code

Sweet success: Scientists created a highly accurate reference genome for one of the most important modern crops and found a rare example of how genes confer disease resistance in plants….

Evolution of the most powerful ocean current on Earth

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica’s ice sheets….

Partners & Sponsors