UA Physics Attosecond Science Efforts
Oct. 5, 2023
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Attosecond XUV pulses in Nobel laureate Ferenc Krausz's lab
It is exciting to note that the 2023 Physics Nobel Prize was awarded “For experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter”. Nobel prize winners Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz, and Anne L’Huillier laid the foundations of “Attoscience” and demonstrated the generation, characterization, and application of attosecond light pulses. The attosecond time-domain techniques have opened the door to real-time probing of the fundamental atomic and molecular dynamics, on the natural timescales of electrons.
We have three professors (Arvinder Sandhu, Mohammed Hassan, Nikolay Golubev) conducting research in the field of Attosecond Science in the Physics Department at UA. Furthermore, Ferenc Krausz (one of the Nobel Prize awardees) was Mohammed Hassan’s Ph.D. Advisor.
Arvinder Sandhu’s lab is currently working towards merging of the attosecond science with the field of x-ray spectroscopy, to probe and control correlated electron dynamics in atoms, molecules, and materials.
Mohammed Hassan’s lab is pursing attosecond electronics and extending the attosecond frontiers further to conduct attomicrosopy, where high temporal and spatial resolution can be achieved simultaneously.
Nikolay Golubev’s group is implementing state-of-the-art theoretical approaches to model the correlated motion of electrons within complex molecules and 2D materials, to elucidate how the many-body attosecond electron dynamics govern the chemical evolution.
Anticipated rewards of pursuing these research directions are transformative discoveries in understanding and controlling the ultrafast interplay between electronic, nuclear, and spin degrees of freedom, leading to new insights into the structure and function of complex systems relevant to light harvesting and biochemistry, and the development of new quantum technologies with ultrafast capabilities.
The Physics Department will host a “Nobel Celebration of Attosecond Physics” on Friday, Oct 6 from 1:30-2:30 pm in PAS 236. Our attosecond physicists from different generations (faculty, postdocs, students) will share their personal reminisces, stories, perspectives. Please come for informal discussion, Q&A, and to learn about how UA attosecond science efforts are related to the Nobel prize winning research.
