In the world of ultrashort optical pulses, the femtosecond (fs) has been superseded by the attosecond (as, or 10-18 s). An international collaboration of ten scientists claims to have generated and detected isolated soft x-ray pulses of 650-as duration. Scientists at the Vienna University of Technology, Austria, along with others at the National Research Center (Ottawa, Canada) and the University of Bielefeld, Germany, have developed experimental tools and techniques that could enable attosecond-resolution spectroscopy of bound electron dynamics in atoms and molecules.
Now that a team of researchers sponsored by the NEC Research Institute (Princeton, NJ) has successfully tricked Mother Nature, they are attempting to enlist her cooperation. The researchers are hoping photonic bandgap materials will bring the same good luck silicon did in the semiconductor industry.