Attosecond pulses measure ultrafast photoionization processes
Daejeon, Korea--Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)successfully measured the exact status of the rapidly changing Helium atom using an attosecond pulse, making possible the precise measurement of many ultrafast phenomena in nature.
Professor Nam Chang Hee led the research team and PhD Kim Kyung Taek and professor Choi Nak Ryul also participated in the research. Conducted under the support of the Researcher Support Program initiated by The Ministry of Education and Science and Korea Research Foundation, the research result was published in Physical Review Letters on March 2.
Nam Chang Hee's research team used attosecond X-ray pulses and femtosecond laser pulse to photoionize helium atoms, and measure the wave speed of the produced electron to closely investigate the ultrafast photoionization process. The researchers say they have succeeded in producing the shortest 60 attosecond pulse in the world using high-harmonic waves.
Hee said, "This research precisely measured the exact status of rapidly changing Helium atoms. I am planning to research on measuring the ultrafast phenomena inside atoms and molecules and controlling the status of the atoms and molecules based on the research result."
SOURCE: KAIST; www.kaist.edu/edu.html
Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)
Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.