Attosecond physics: A switch for light-wave electronics
Light waves could in principle be used to drive future transistors. Since the electromagnetic waves of light oscillate approximately one million times in a billionth of a second, i.e. at petahertz (PHz) frequencies, optoelectronic computers could attain switching rates 100,000 times higher than current digital electronic systems. However, to achieve this goal, we will need a better understanding of the sub-atomic electron motion induced by the ultrafast electric field of light. Now a team led by Ferenc Krausz, who holds a Chair in Experimental Physics at LMU and is a Director of the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Garching, in collaboration with theorists from Tsukuba University in Japan, has used a novel combination of experimental and theoretical techniques, which for the first time provides direct access to the dynamics of this process.