The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics was today awarded to a trio of scientists for their technique to create pulses of light lasting just ‘attoseconds’ – one billionth of one billionth of a second.
Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier demonstrated a way to use the extremely short light pulses to measure the rapid processes in which electrons move or change energy.
The electron is one of the three subatomic particles – along with protons and neutrons – that make up atoms, the basic building blocks of all matter.
Their pulses are short enough to take snapshots of electrons’ extremely rapid movements, potentially providing new insights into their behaviour.
At the moment, this science is about understanding our universe rather than practical applications, but the hope is that it will eventually lead to better electronics and disease diagnosis.
Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier have been awarded for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics
It is common for several scientists who work in related fields to share the prize, which includes 11 million Swedish kronor (about £820,000)
The Nobel Prize in Physics is one of the most prestigious prizes in science, and in the past has honoured discoveries about the fundamental forces of nature and cosmic phenomena.
It is awarded ‘for groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems.’
It is common for several scientists who work in related fields to share the prize, which consists of 11 million Swedish kronor (about £820,000 or $990,000), a gold medal and a diploma.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the winners on Tuesday from its stunning Session Hall in Stockholm at 10:45 BST (05:45 EDT).
It said the research has given humanity ‘new tools for exploring the world of electrons inside atoms and molecules’.
This year, the three recipients of the physics prize are from three different institutions in three different countries – the US, Germany and Sweden – and ot was their cumulative efforts over the past few decades that justified the prize.
Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L´Huillier have won the Nobel Prize in physics, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has announced
Professor Anne L’Huillier, originally from France, is only the fifth woman to win a Nobel in physics. She called the award ‘very special’
Professor Anne L’Huillier, originally from France, is only the fifth woman to win a Nobel Prize for physics.
‘This is the most prestigious and I am so happy to get this prize. It’s incredible,’ she told the news conference announcing the prize.
‘As you know there are not so many women who got this prize so it’s very special.’
In 1987, Professor L’Huillier discovered that many different ‘overtones’ of light arose when she transmitted infrared laser light through a noble gas.
Each overtone is a light wave with a given number of cycles for each cycle in the laser light.
Overtones of light are caused by the laser light interacting with atoms in the gas; it gives some electrons extra energy that is then emitted as light.
Since 1987, Professor L’Huillier has continued to explore this phenomenon, laying the groundwork for subsequent breakthroughs by the other two recipients.
In 2001, French-American physicist Pierre Agostini succeeded in producing and investigating a series of consecutive light pulses, in which each pulse lasted just 250 attoseconds.
In 1987, Anne L’Huillier discovered that many different overtones of light arose when she transmitted infrared laser light through a noble gas
2023 physics laureate Pierre Agostini succeeded in producing and investigating a series of consecutive light pulses, in which each pulse lasted just 250 attoseconds. At the same time, his 2023 co-laureate Ferenc Krausz was working with another type of experiment, one that made it possible to isolate a single light pulse that lasted 650 attoseconds
One attosecond is so short that there are as many in one second as there have been seconds since the birth of the universe, 13.8 billion years ago.
At the same time, Hungarian-Austrian physicist Ferenc Krausz was working with another type of experiment, which made it possible to isolate a single light pulse that lasted 650 attoseconds.
Together, the laureates’ contributions have enabled the investigation of processes that are so rapid they were previously impossible to follow.
There are potential applications in many different areas, including electronics, for example, where it is important to understand and control how electrons behave in a material.
Attosecond pulses can also be used to identify different molecules, such as in medical diagnostics.
‘We can now open the door to the world of electrons,’ said Eva Olsson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics.
‘Attosecond physics gives us the opportunity to understand mechanisms that are governed by electrons.
‘The next step will be utilising them.’
The 2023 physics prize comes a day after Hungarian-American Katalin Karikó and American Drew Weissman won the Nobel Prize in medicine for discoveries that enabled the creation of mRNA vaccines against Covid.
Hungarian physicist Ferenc Krausz (pictured) is one of the three recipients for the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2023
French Physicist Pierre Agostini is pictured
Nobel announcements will continue with the chemistry prize on Wednesday and the literature prize on Thursday.
The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday and the economics award next week (October 9).
The laureates are invited to receive their awards at ceremonies on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish chemist who established the prizes.
The prestigious peace prize is handed out in Oslo, according to his wishes, while physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, and literature are awarded in Stockholm.
Last year, three scientists jointly won the physics prize for proving that tiny particles could retain a connection with each other even when separated.
The phenomenon was once doubted but is now being explored for potential real-world applications such as encrypting information.
The first Nobel Prizes were presented in 1901, five years after Alfred Nobel’s death. Pictured is a bust of Nobel on display at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden
