Nobel Prize for Physics 2023

Why in the News?

Recently Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier have been awarded Nobel Prize in physics, 2023 for their contribution to making it possible to watch electrons move.

Significance of their work:

1. Atoms or molecules make movements, or changes took place generally in picoseconds (10^-12) or femtoseconds (10^-15), which required unimaginably short pulses of light to capture their movement. For that femtosecond ‘photography’ was developed and was considered the limit.
2. However, there were processes that were even faster in atoms happening within a few attoseconds (10^-18).
3. Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier worked
   1. to develop experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter.
   2. They have demonstrated a way to create extremely short pulses of light that can be used to measure the rapid processes in which electrons move or change energy.
4. The sub-atomic motion happens in a matter of attoseconds.

• For instance, the dynamics of the electron are 100 to 1,000 times faster than that of the atom. This is because atom is heavier, because of the nucleus, and has greater inertia (Lower the inertia, faster the dynamics).

5. They mixed the lights of different wavelengths, to produce attosecond pulses.
6. Challenges in developing attosecond light pulses:
   1. To capture a process, the measurement must be made at a pace quicker than the rate of change.
   2. But, for all sorts of light produced by laser systems, this cycle used to take at least a few femtoseconds to complete.
7. Possible applications:
   1. It has potential applications in a variety of areas, from electronics to medicine, across disciplines in physics, chemistry and biology.
   2. In medical science, particularly in finding therapies for cancer care.
   3. Study molecular-level changes in blood, to identify diseases.
   4. Create more efficient electronic gadgets by better understanding of how electrons move and transmit energy.