Anne L'Huillier (centre left) is guided through the attosecond laboratory in the PETRA III experimental hall by Francesca Calegari (centre right) and her team. (Credit: DESY, Miriam Huckschlag)
Anne L´Huillier from the University of Lund has visited the research centre DESY on 12 January 2024. The physicist, who won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics together with two colleagues for "the experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter", visited DESY and CFEL. She was invited by Francesca Calegari, Lead Scientist at DESY and Professor at Universität Hamburg, who is also conducting research in attosecond physics.
Attosecond physics comprises the physics of matter at the “electron” timescale, i.e. timescales at a ten-millionth of a billionth of a second. Attosecond light pulses cannot be produced as a direct output of conventional laser sources. Anne L´Huillier and her colleagues discovered an extremely non-linear optical process that allowed to break the femtosecond “barrier” and access the attosecond domain.
After a tour of the attosecond and laser research laboratories at DESY and CFEL, the Nobel laureate, who is also a senior scientist at the international Helmholtz Lund Graduate School HELIOS, gave a lecture in the DESY lecture hall. Her presentation “Attosecond light pulses for studying ultrafast electron dynamics” was part of the Hamburg Photon Science Colloquium.
“Anne L´Huillier´s discoveries have contributed decisively to advance research with ultrashort pulses and lasers development, which are also crucial for progress in this research field here at DESY,” says Francesca Calegari. “Our collaboration with her is extremely inspiring and we are delighted and honoured that she accepted our invitation, which we extended even before her Nobel Prize, even as a Nobel Laureate.”
(from DESY News)
