New laser-light source could lead to significant advances in research on fundamental physics

With the aid of extremely short and highly intense pulses of laser light, scientists have made great strides in their efforts to observe and control particle motions outside the confines of atomic nuclei. Indeed, the future of electronics lies in optical control of electron flows. That would enable data processing operations to be performed at frequencies equivalent to the rate of oscillation of visible light – some 100,000 times faster than is feasible with current techniques. To reach this goal, advances in laser technology are essential. Physicists at the Laboratory for Attosecond Physics (LAP), which is run jointly by LMU Munich and the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ), has developed a novel light source that brings the age of optoelectronics closer. The team describes the new instrument in the journal Nature Communications.