24
October 2002
Attosecond physics: Snapshots of an excited atom
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Processes on the atomic scale can be imaged with ultrafast laser pulses in the same way that a speeding bullet is 'frozen' by a camera with a fast shutter. Ultrafast spectroscopy has now produced the first measurements of dynamic processes deep inside an atom, heralding the birth of 'attophysics'. In this experiment, a krypton atom is excited by a short X-ray pulse to create a 'hole' in its inner shell. Electron rearrangement in the excited atom is tracked with attosecond (10-18 s) resolution with a synchronized laser beam.
Time-resolved atomic inner-shell spectroscopy
M. DRESCHER, M. HENTSCHEL, R. KIENBERGER, M. UIBERACKER, V.
YAKOVLEV, A. SCRINZI, TH. WESTERWALBESLOH, U. KLEINEBERG, U. HEINZMANN & F.
KRAUSZ
Nature 419, 803–807 (2002); doi:10.1038/nature01143
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Attophysics: Atomic photography
LOUIS
F. DIMAURO
No ordinary camera can capture the motion of electrons inside an
atom. But the advent of ultrafast laser pulses brings the necessary 'shutter speed'
for snapping them as they tumble between energy levels close to the nucleus.
Nature 419, 789–790 (2002); doi:10.1038/419789a
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