Researchers at the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) in Barcelona have created a flash of soft X-ray light lasting just 19.2 attoseconds—the shortest light pulse ever measured. This breakthrough, led by ICREA Prof. Jens Biegert, forges an unprecedented “camera” fast enough to directly capture the ultrafast dance of electrons, opening new frontiers in physics, chemistry, and quantum technology.
Imagine trying to photograph a hummingbird’s wingbeat with a camera that only takes one picture per second. You’d miss everything. For scientists studying the fundamental workings of nature, this has been the frustrating reality when observing electrons. These subatomic particles dictate chemical reactions, electrical conductivity, and quantum processes, but they move on an almost inconceivably fast timescale—attoseconds. One attosecond is to one second what one second is to about 31.7 billion years. Until now, capturing their dynamics in real-time was beyond reach.
That barrier has now been obliterated. A team at ICFO has generated and definitively measured an isolated soft X-ray pulse lasting a mere 19.2 attoseconds, as reported in the journal Ultrafast Science. This achievement is not just about setting a record; it creates the fastest imaging tool in existence. “Finally, we can say that, to the best of our knowledge, we have confirmed the shortest pulse of light in the world!” exclaimed the study’s first author, Dr. Fernando Ardana-Lamas.
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The journey to this moment began nearly a decade ago. In 2015, the group led by ICREA Professor Jens Biegert at ICFO first pioneered a method to generate isolated attosecond pulses in the soft X-ray regime. These earlier pulses were already revolutionary, allowing researchers to see electrons interacting with a crystal lattice and to watch the ring-opening dynamics of a molecule—a key step in processes like polymerization. However, precisely measuring the duration of these incredibly short flashes remained a formidable challenge.
The latest breakthrough required a symphony of innovations in high-harmonic generation, laser engineering, and attosecond metrology. The key was applying a new pulse retrieval method to old data. “When I came to the group and saw the streaking traces, I had to look into this with a new pulse retrieval method,” shares Dr. Ardana-Lamas. This refined analysis confirmed the pulse’s record-breaking 19.2-attosecond duration.
Why does this matter so much? These flashes act like ultrafast fingerprints. Soft X-ray light can specifically probe how electrons are arranged around particular atoms. With a pulse this short and bright, scientists can now make a real-time “movie” of electrons rearranging themselves during a chemical reaction, a phase transition in a material, or the initialization of a quantum state. This is observing nature at its most fundamental clockwork.
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“This new capability paves the way for breakthroughs in physics, chemistry, biology, and quantum science,” explained Prof. Biegert. The implications are vast. It could illuminate the charge-transfer processes that limit solar cell efficiency, reveal the precise mechanistic steps in catalytic reactions, decode the mysteries of correlated materials like superconductors, and provide direct insight into the operation of next-generation quantum devices.
For decades, attosecond science has been a field of immense promise, pushing against the limits of measurement. With the creation of a light pulse shorter than the atomic unit of time, the ICFO team has not just broken a record—they have built a new window into the subatomic world. As Prof. Biegert puts it, now that the foundation is laid, “the sky is the limit.”
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