Electrons fingerprint the fastest laser pulses
Thursday, September 8, 2016 - 06:31
in Physics & Chemistry
Analyzing ultrafast chemical processes requires ultrafast lasers—light pulses lasting for mere attoseconds (10-18 second)—to act as a "stop-motion" strobe camera. Physicists at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are analyzing how ultrafast laser pulses interact with matter. Their study of how two attosecond laser pulses would interact with a helium atom produced an electron momentum distribution that displays an unexpected two-armed vortex pattern, resembling a spiral galaxy.