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posted by Fnord666 on Thursday July 13 2017, @10:23PM   Printer-friendly
from the not-to-be-taken-lightly dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Physicists at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and Friedrich Schiller University Jena (FSU) have accomplished a quantum leap in light research. They have managed to capture the behaviour of extremely short laser pulses during focusing by means of very high spatial and temporal resolution. The results are of fundamental relevance to understanding the interactions between light and matter and will make it possible to control electron movements and chemical reactions to an extent that was previously not feasible. These insights into fundamental physics will particularly profit further research into new radiation sources and in the field of light wave electronics. The researchers recently published their findings in the leading specialist journal 'Nature Physics'.*

Ultrashort light pulses with such a wide optical spectrum range that the beams appear white are in common use nowadays. Among other things they are used to examine the retina of the eye while in physics they are employed to control processes at the atomic level and analyse them in slow motion. In almost all these applications, the white laser pulses need to be focused. As it is the specific form of the light wave that determines how electrons, for example, will move within it, it is essential to know what the focused laser beam actually looks like in detail.

In order to better understand why, think of a ship in stormy seas. The helmsman not only has to know how high and how long the waves are but also has to keep an eye on incoming waves in order to know when they will hit the ship in order to find a safe path up to the crest of the wave on one side and down on the other. In the same way, it is important for researchers to know how and where the maximum of a light wave will strike electrons in an experiment or application in order to have a targeted influence on them. The changes to and propagation of light waves in an electrical field take place on a time scale of a few hundred attoseconds -- in other words, within one billionth of a billionth of a second. Until recently, it was not possible to measure the exact distribution of the wave troughs and peaks at the focus of a laser beam on this time scale.

-- submitted from IRC

Journal Reference: Dominik Hoff, Michael Krüger, Lothar Maisenbacher, A. M. Sayler, Gerhard G. Paulus, Peter Hommelhoff. Tracing the phase of focused broadband laser pulses. Nature Physics, 2017; DOI: 10.1038/nphys4185


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 14 2017, @12:01AM (8 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 14 2017, @12:01AM (#538903)

    The article is behind a paywall.

    Without am accessabe link to the article, I'd vote to talk about it elsewhere.

    That is, NOT HERE.

  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday July 14 2017, @12:11AM (1 child)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday July 14 2017, @12:11AM (#538907) Journal

    We've run tons of stories with paywalled science articles and will continue to do so.

    The solution is to use alternate means to get the paper. Or convince scientists and organizations to publish in open access journals.

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 26 2017, @06:23PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 26 2017, @06:23PM (#544774)

      The original submission contains a demand that the reader complete a CAPTCHA. It would be amusing if it weren't so annoying.

  • (Score: 2, Funny) by krishnoid on Friday July 14 2017, @12:15AM (3 children)

    by krishnoid (1156) on Friday July 14 2017, @12:15AM (#538912)

    Well, there's also video of the phenomenon [youtube.com].

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 14 2017, @08:38AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 14 2017, @08:38AM (#539024)

    Paywalls are violently imposed monopolies!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 14 2017, @02:09PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 14 2017, @02:09PM (#539116)

      Hmm, technically I think that one's an oligopoly, isn't it? Perhaps a violently imposed cartel?