Explained: Inside the exciting world of Attosecond Physics that won Nobel Prize 2023

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The most coveted announcement of the year for the world of Physics has been made. The Nobel Prize for Physics has been awarded to a trio of experts for their pioneering work on tiny electrons whose ultra-rapid movements were earlier thought impossible to track. 

All matter in the world is composed of atoms, and an electron is its smallest unit. The number of electrons in an atom and their configuration depends on which element we are talking about. For example, a Hydrogen atom has just one electron, Helium atom has two electrons, and an Oxygen atom has eight electrons. 

Also read | Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier

The 2023 Nobel Prize laureates in physics are being recognised for their experiments, which have given humanity new tools for exploring the world of electrons inside atoms and molecules.

Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier 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.

Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier | The Nobel Prize

"The laureates’ contributions have enabled the investigation of processes that are so rapid they were previously impossible to follow," an official readout said.

What exactly is the process that won the 2023 Nobel Prize for Physics?

To put it simply, the Nobel Prize in physics has been awarded for looking at electrons in atoms during the incredibly tiniest of split seconds. 

The question arises how small are these split seconds. To understand how tiny they are, consider the following. 

One heartbeat conventionally occurs in one second. A tiny hummingbird can beat its wings 80 times per second. We are only able to observe this as a whirring sound and blurred movement. For the human senses, rapid movements blur together, and extremely short events are not possible to observe.

We need to slow it down by using tricks from an advanced camera to observe these very brief instants.

"The same principle applies to all the methods used to measure or depict rapid processes; any measurement must be done more quickly than the time it takes for the system being studied to undergo a noticeable change, otherwise the result is vague. 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," an official readout by the 2023 Nobel Committee said.

A glimpse into Attosecond Physics unraveled by this year's Nobel Laureates

Atoms’ natural time scale is incredibly short. In a molecule, atoms can move and turn in millionths of a billionth of a second, known as femtoseconds.

But when electrons move inside atoms or molecules, they do it so quickly that changes are blurred out even in a femtosecond. 

"In the world of electrons, positions and energies change at speeds of between one and a few hundred attoseconds, where an attosecond is one billionth of a billionth of a second," the Nobel Prize Committee said. 

An attosecond is so short that that the number of them in one second is the same as the number of seconds that have elapsed since the universe came into existence, 13.8 billion years ago, it added.

"On a more relatable scale, we can imagine a flash of light being sent from one end of a room to the opposite wall – this takes ten billion attoseconds."

So far, it was possible to observe atomic processes during the durational period of a femtosecond, nothing beyond that.

"Improving existing technology was not enough to see processes occurring on the amazingly brief timescales of electrons; something entirely new was required. This year’s laureates conducted experiments that opened up the new research field of attosecond physics," the Nobel Prize Committee added.

Also read | Nobel prize in medicine: Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman awarded for mRNA vaccines against COVID-19

The trio of scientists, in different countries, did the experiments that cumulatively demonstrated that attosecond pulses could be observed and measured.

"Now that the attosecond world has become accessible, these short bursts of light can be used to study the movements of electrons. It is now possible to produce pulses down to just a few dozen attoseconds, and this technology is developing all the time," the Nobel Committee said in an official statement. 

What does it mean for the world of physics?

The Attosecond pulses can be used to test the internal processes of matter, and to identify different events. 

These pulses have been used to explore the detailed physics of atoms and molecules, and they have potential applications in areas from electronics to medicine, according to the Nobel Prize Committee. 

For example, attosecond pulses can be used to push molecules, which emit a measurable signal. 

The official Nobel Committee readout said that the signal from the molecules has a special structure, a type of fingerprint that reveals what molecule it is, and the possible applications of this include medical diagnostics as well. 

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