New record established for shortest laser pulse
SEP 06, 2012
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.026313
BBC : A team of researchers at the University of Central Florida led by Zenghu Chang has created a laser with a pulse duration of only 67 attoseconds (10 −18 s). Pulsed femtosecond lasers are widely used research tools for studying molecular dynamics. Even faster lasers can be used to look at events that occur at atomic and subatomic scales. In general, ultrafast pulses are primarily obtained by firing the lasers into focused streams of inert gases, which compresses the pulses in time. Chang’s group refined this process by also passing the laser pulses through a thin zinc foil. That additional step slows some wavelengths down, compressing the duration of the pulse even further.
© 2012 American Institute of Physics
