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An international group of physicists and engineers, led by Professor Zenghu Chang of the University of Central Florida, has produced the shortest-ever laser pulse: a 53-attosecond X-ray flash.
Professor Chang and co-authors broke the record for the shortest light pulse. Image credit: University of Central Florida.
Attosecond pulses were first demonstrated in 2001. Since then researchers around the world have been trying to make ever-shorter pulse durations because of the door they could open to understanding the subatomic world.
In the same way high-speed cameras can record slow-motion video of flying bullets, attosecond light pulses allow scientists to capture images of fast-moving electrons in atoms and molecules with unprecedented sharpness.
The previous record of a 67-attosecond pulse (extreme-UV light) was set in 2012 by the same team.
The pulses Professor Chang and co-authors have now demonstrated are not just shorter in duration, but also in wavelength.
“The new pulse reaches an important spectral region, the so-called ‘water window,’ where carbon atoms absorb strongly but water does not,” the researchers said.
Experimental set-up: schematic illustration for isolated attosecond X-ray pulse generation and characterization. CCD – charge-coupled device, MCP – microchannel plate, PZT – piezo-electric transducer. Image credit: Li et al, doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-00321-0.
“Such attosecond soft X-rays could be used to shoot slow-motion video of electrons and atoms of biological molecules in living cells to, for instance, improve the efficiency of solar panels by better understanding how photosynthesis works,” Professor Chang added.
“X-rays interact with the tightly bound electrons in matter and may reveal which electrons move in which atoms, providing another way to study fast processes in materials with chemical element specificity.”
“That capability is invaluable for the development of next-generation logic and memory chips for mobile phones and computers that are a thousand times faster than those in use today.”
The results of the research are published in the journal Nature Communications.
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Jie Li et al. 2017. 53-attosecond X-ray pulses reach the carbon K-edge. Nature Communications 8, article number: 186; doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-00321-0
