Scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science found a way to watch materials change super fast. Other experts from Berlin, Haifa, and beyond participated in the study.
They use lasers to switch a material from opaque to transparent. Or they turn it from a conductor to an insulator. These changes happen in attoseconds. An attosecond is a billionth of a billionth of a second. That’s so quick it’s hard to study. The scientists shared their method in Nature Photonics. It could lead to superfast computers and communication.
Their new method uses light and lasers. Light slows down and bends when it hits stuff, like raindrops making a rainbow. Each color slows differently, splitting into a rainbow. Normally, materials bend light the same way every time. But a strong laser can change how much light slows. The scientists figured they could measure these tiny changes. That shows how lasers alter materials so fast.
Potential applications to superfast computers
The scientists use two lasers. One is strong with long pulses. It changes how light slows in a material. The second laser sends attosecond pulses. These act like a super slow-motion camera. They make two copies of light. One skips the material as a reference. The other goes through, catching tiny delays. When the copies mix, scientists see exactly how the material changed.
In quantum mechanics, materials have energy levels. These are like steps on a ladder. Electrons, tiny particles, climb or drop by gaining or losing energy. A laser shakes up this ladder. It can merge or split the steps. The new method tracks these shifts and shows how lasers tweak a material’s properties.
The scientists tested the new method on single atoms first. Then they calculated it works for complex materials too. The scientists say this could control materials precisely in attoseconds. That might build the fastest processors ever. It could also snap pictures of moving electrons and open new quantum discoveries.