Public Lecture with Professor Emeritus and Nobel Laureate, Pierre Agostini
From Attos to Zeptos
US Bank Conference Theater, Ohio Union
Tuesday, April 2nd
7:00 PM
Abstract: Attosecond (billionth of a billionth of a second) pulses are currently the shortest light pulses created from high harmonics discovered by Anne L’Huillier and coworkers in 1987. These short pulses are fast enough to follow in principle electrons motion in atoms or molecules. The recollision physics, which is at the origin of those pulses, can be extrapolated to ultra-relativistic regime and perhaps give rise to pulses a thousand time shorter (zeptosecond) in the future, according to theoretical physicists. This talk will explain the physics of attosecond pulses, review some applications from atomic physics to medicine, and speculate on the prospect of zeptoseconds.
