Photonics seminars

Anne L’Huillier, Pierre Agostini and Ferenc Krausz explain how light pulses became short enough to resolve electron dynamics. The lectures follow the development of high-order harmonics generated when intense laser light interacts with atoms, the formation and characterisation of attosecond pulse trains, and the isolation of individual attosecond pulses. These experimental advances provide complementary ways to probe processes that occur too rapidly for earlier optical techniques. The programme connects the physical mechanisms of pulse generation with the measurement of subatomic motion and the research possibilities created by access to this timescale, covering the distinct contributions recognised by the 2023 physics prize.