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Laser-matter interactions

It takes two electrons to tango

Nature volume 405, pages 631–633 (2000)Cite this article

Understanding the behaviour of electrons is fundamental to the science of matter and its properties. It usually relies on individual electrons adopting their own paths or ‘orbitals’, and explains the periodic table of the elements. But electrons are not always so aloof, and when they dance together they give rise to many intriguing physical phenomena, such as superconductivity. On page 658 of this issue, Weber et al.1 provide a clearer picture of a two-electron dance in a different domain — when matter is exposed to an intense laser field. In so doing they have cleared up a controversy about how electron coupling occurs in such systems.

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  1. Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU , UK

    Keith Burnett

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  1. Keith Burnett
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Correspondence to Keith Burnett.

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Burnett, K. It takes two electrons to tango . Nature 405, 631–633 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35015201

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